On this day of remembrance

As I think back to this date seven years ago, I can see very clearly where I was and what I was doing. When the events of September 11, 2001 began to unfold, I was sitting on my very small couch (loveseat) in my very small living room, in my very small rented house in Lansing, Michigan. September 11, 2001 was the beginning of my second week of law school. I woke up early that morning to look over my Property I homework (because if you have ever taken a property course you know that once is never enough). I turned on the TV for background noise and an hour later it happened.



Words cannot express the feelings that ran through my body that day. The panic stricken phone calls to my parent's house; the calls to my friends; the excessive news watching. I have never seen something like that before. In every movie you could ever find the depiction of NYC and its inhabitants is always the same: the city never sleeps, it will eat you alive, so will the people... To look up and see those people running in the street and crying; firefighters and police running into buildings; people hugging in the street or trekking across the Brooklyn Bridge... that sticks with you. That stuck with me. The aftermath of posters of missing people and searches sticks with me also. September 11th will never (should never) leave out consciousness. We should never forget that we are susceptible. We should never forget those we lost. We should never forget the bravery that was shown on that day and the weeks and months to follow. We should never confuse things that are happening now- most notably the war- with the things that happened on that day. On that day we all grew up a bit; there was a feeling lost that morning that we will never get back.



I remember so clearly on September 12, 2001 there was a news anchor reporting on the happenings of the day before. He said that September 11th was going to be written into history and on our minds like Pearl Harbor and the assiassination of JFK. We would always be able to look back and remember what we were doing and how our lives were affected by this terrorism. He was right. With that said, I am going to enjoy this pleasant fall day. I am going to call my parents and tell them I love them. I am going to go home and bake treats for my dogs and give them extra hugs and kisses, because as Horace says "Rejoice while you are alive; enjoy the day; live life to the fullest; make the most of what you have. It is later than you think." It is later than you think.