Nine Years Later

Woke up this morning and all was quiet. All I could hear were the sprinklers outside. Got up..got dressed..went to see my mother. On my way back I realized that all the flags were all at half mast. I then remembered why....not that I really forgot.


Nine years its been since that beautiful and quiet September morning not unlike today that our lives were disrupted by unimaginable hate. Whether its nine years or nineteen years this day is still a sad reminder of how ignorance and hate can not only kill people but kill the idea of embracing each others differences.


Nine years later and that ginormous hole is still empty. Well not really. The re-building has been slow due to our elected officials putting politics and greed ahead of real progress, rebuilding and healing.


Nine years later and the and the mere idea of building a Muslim community center near Ground Zero is striking unnecessary fear into the hearts of many. Doing so would be "sacrilege" and "an affront to the memory of those that died there". Uh huh..right. Because the strip clubs and TGI Fridays' that are within walking distance of Ground Zero are really honoring the memories of the dead. Sigh.

I'm not going to get too deep into the politics of this. All I know is this. My father was working in the US Customs House that was between the towers. My mother and I had no idea how to reach him. Those were the scariest hours of our lives. We waited and we watched the towers fall. Never thought that could happen. Those towers were meeting points for my father and I when we would go on our father and daughter dates. Now they were rubble. When my father finally made it home....we fell on top of him and didn't let go for a long time.

The events of nine years ago will never be about politics to me. No matter how many talking heads say that it should be. To me its about tremendous loss, mourning, learning and moving on.

Peace,

Myrna