Memorials

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I suppose I'll never forget where I was the moment I heard about what was happening on 9/11/01. I was actually listening to Howard Stern interview Pam Anderson about all sorts of raunchy things. In the middle of the interview, Howard stopped to report what was happening in New York. Of course, it was a beautiful day with bright blue skies and the report that a plane had drifted so far off course was odd.

Anyway, today was also a bright beautiful day and I was moving through downtown Buffalo, not even remembering that we were getting close to 9/11. I very rarely remember the date unless I'm writing a report. I spotted a memorial - an American Flag in place for each person who lost their life that day, and it kind of hit me that we do have a tendency to forget it.

Of course, 09/11/01 will stand as a horrific day in American history and people won't really ever forget it, but we often push it deep into our memory banks because it's too much to take. The sight of all of those flags sort of sent me into a tailspin because I understood that for each flag there was a husband left without a wife or a wife left without a husband, or children left without a parent. Friends missing friends, uncles missing nephews - just so much horrific loss in such a short window of time.

I can remember standing at Ground Zero in '04 thinking about the people that were running from those buildings. It makes you sick to even consider it - and it has been seven years. Just so hard to believe.

I also remember that we turned it off the television to keep the kids from seeing the destruction and hearing about everyone who died.

As I passed those flags this morning I considered that American history was certainly changed on a crisp, beautiful day that quickly turned ugly. I switched on the radio news station filled with pride for how America has stood tall - and I was greeted with talk of the presidential election and the back and forth argument about whether or not Obama was talking about Sarah Palin when he mentioned putting lipstick on a pig.

There's just so much more to think about and so many important battles still to win. Is the name-calling helping anyone?

History will judge how far we have come since 09/11. Did it change how you see the world?

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