9/11 Remembered

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on our nation. Here is a piece that I wrote in response to 9/11.

LEST WE FORGET

9/11/11

They stood at their posts unaware.

The morning sun glistened on the water of the bay.

It promised to be a day like many others.

Then the planes came.

They came out of the sky without warning.

And with them came death and destruction.

Many were buried in the rubble never to be recovered.

A nation was awakened from its sleep.

Its heart broken, its resolve steeled.

A nation thrust into a war it did not choose nor did it want.

A date that would not be forgotten.

A date that would go down in infamy.

The date was December 7, 1941

The place, Pearl Harbor.

Time, the great duller of our senses, clouds the past.

The emotions, so vivid, so powerful, fade to a vague memory.

The image fades and then disappears from our consciousness.

Passion replaced with complacency.

Resolve melts into routine.

They sat at their desks unaware.

The morning sun glistened on the water of the bay.

It promised to be a day like many others.

Then the planes came.

They came out of the sky without warning.

And with them came death and destruction.

Many were buried in the rubble never to be recovered.

A nation was awakened from its sleep.

Its heart was broken.

Its soul was stirred.

The name of God sprang to our lips.

A long forgotten source of help in time of trouble.

A forgotten relationship momentarily reawakened.

The date was September 11, 2001.

The place, New York City, the Pentagon, Pennsylvania.

The memory has already begun to fade.

Let us not forget.