Where were you....

...on Sept. 11, 2001?

Of course, that's the question on everyones lips today. 

As I got up this morning, I thought back to that day.  My son was active duty Air Force and stationed in Korea.  My daughter in law was asleep in the guest room, and their roommate was asleep on the living room floor.   I took my coffee to my studio to turn on local news and there was Matt Lauer with a pale face, talking about the first crash.  I awakened the sleeping ones who rapdily decided to quickly leave for their home in Phoenix, knowing that my son would call his wife as soon as he could.

We all have our remembrances of that day, that week.  It was one of those life events where we each know where we were and who we were with when we heard.  Like JFK's assassination and the Challenger explosion.  Why is it that we don't remember the good days in the same manner?  Oh we remember the births of our children, graduations, weddings, and the like.  But we don't seem to be able to capture that almost cellular memory that we possess when tragedy strikes.

I wonder about all the news coverage that ran for days after these events.  Is it necessary that we revisit the horror and allow ourselves to be re-traumatized with repeated viewings of a story that cannot possibilty have any other ending?  Yet, we were all glued to the tube as replay after replay, viewing angle over viewing angle replayed with unrelenting frequency.

I'm sure they replayed it at some point today on some news channel somewhere.  There were stories about survivors today.  I didn't watch them.  That may sound uncaring or even cynical.  But I won't allow myself to re-imbed those images.   I offer compassion for those who were lost and the families left behind.  Re-living it would not be productive for me.  Or for many others.  We won't forget this day.  We do not need to re-live it.