Today - 9/11/2008

So I'm walking with a neighbor this morning...she's a lifetime Vegas resident...a little older than me...she says, so how are you?...I say, well, thinking about today, still sad...she says, why?...I say, it's 9/11...she says, And?...I say, you know, 9/11, World Trade Center, New York, Pennsylvania, DC, people died...she says, are you sure it's today?.....I just stared at her. It's dawned on me over three years of living here, that to some, it was something that happened in a far away place, to far away people, and not meaningful or emotional to them. I get, I don't know, pissed, really, really pissed about that. Then I think - hell, that's how some people think about Iraq, and South Africa and Afganistan, and...well. Enough about that.

So, yes, I remember today. Alot about today, the where, what, who, when of today. I was living and working in upstate New York on this day in 2001, and I'd mentioned to my kids off in college in the deep South that I'd be gone for several days of meetings and they assumed that meant I was in New York City where I usually went for multiple day meetings. I was in actuality on the other side of the state. I vividly recall the overwhelming need to connect with them after hearing the first horrendous reports, and all the meetings were instantly cancelled. I was in a car, driving toward home, in a very mountainous area, with no cell service. I almost wore out the re-dial button on the phone. When my cell suddenly rang, it was my secretary who'd been frantically trying to get me, to tell me the kids had called the office because they couldn't find me, and she'd re-assured them that I was NOT in the city. For once, I'm at a loss.....words fail to describe the emotion of that moment.

And the funny thing is, tomorrow I will think about what happened the next day on 9/12, when I learned that one of my employee's brothers - he was the Chief of NY Fire Department - survived the first building collapse, but his fellow firefighters saw him crushed and killed instantly in the second tower collapse. And the next day, 9/13, I will think about when I learned of firefighters I knew that died, and, well, so many others. And the days after that, learning who had survived, and how. It takes awhile for the memories to fade a bit. 

Not to put the fine folks of Vegas in any kind of bad light, I want to tell you that the firefighters and police here did a tribute this morning at 9:55 am PT, standing for 1 second of silence for each life lost, and tonight they have a memorial service planned, because they, like some of us, will never forget. And I saw on TV today the AWESOMELY beautiful memorial dedicated to those lost at the Pentagon. Gotta see that for sure next trip East.  

And - be sure to click on the NASA remembers pics on the right - and read the words under the pic. Inspiring. For the future...here's the link.

Peace to all, and, please, never forget.