Remembering Other People's Stories

Never Forget.
9-11-01

Remembering today is easier for people like me; but it isn't for everybody. You know? I watched September 11th on television, like so much of America. I didn't know anyone in NYC or PA or DC that day. At least not then. They were there, we just hadn't met. Over the past 13 years, I've come to meet so many amazing people who were there, who still remember the smell of the air, the sounds, the fallout. I've met people who lost friends, loved ones, coworkers. People who lost people to the ensuing war. I've been lucky to work on plays like 'The Guys' that honor some of those who fell that day. People I never met. I wonder sometimes, who I didn't meet... considering the number of people I have met who were so near those planes when they were taken down, near those buildings and that field, it stands to reason that, at some point, I would have met at least one of those people... one who didn't survive that day. It just makes me wonder. And so today, as video from that day is replayed over and over, as photos fill our social media feeds, and we all say, collectively and patriotically, that we remember... I feel a bit guilty because I only have to remember other people's stories. For so many people out there, today is a million times harder for them than it will be for me. They're not just remembering the pictures and the news and that they didn't see it on TV until almost an hour after it happened because they were working nights and slept right through it, waking up to a national nightmare. No. They're remembering the people they did meet. The people they loved. Waiting on phone calls. Hanging on hope. Watching those same news reports I did, or watching it live from wherever they were standing that they could see the smoke and wondering if those loved ones would ever come home. Every year on this date for the rest of our lives, that morning will replay and we will all relive where we were; and it's always going to be harder for some people. And I just want to give them a hug. I wasn't a kid, I'm still one of those people who distinctly remember a pre-9/11 world, but still... I'm just a guy from Ohio who watched it on television. My heart goes out to anyone who is mourning some one lost because of that day and to the souls taken from us. It's not much, but love and sympathy, and maybe a hug if you're in the area, is all I can offer to those who are having a really hard time today. Like I said, for most Americans, September 11th of any year from here on out will always be hard, but for some of our friends, it's harder. I love you all.