Ark of the Lost Angels

National September 11th Memorial, New York City, 11/22/11 (Credit: Author)

Originally written on September 11th, 2021 for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

The World Trade Center; Lower Manhattan
The Pentagon; Arlington, Virginia
American Airlines Flight 11
United Airlines Flight 175
American Airlines Flight 77
United Airlines Flight 93; Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
2,977 innocent people.
Victims and heroes.
“Are we worthy of their sacrifice?”

We were challenged twenty-three years ago on that sunny Tuesday in September,
A clear-in-a-million day, until two holes were ripped in Manhattan,
And the gauntlet was thrown by opportunistic cowards some 6,700 miles away.
The challenge was met by the best among us,
Testaments to the iron will and endless love present in humanity.

Those who grew up in the shadows of grave of the Cold War and the smoke at Ground Zero,
Will be among the last to remember the day the sky cracked open,
Making us responsible for passing on the stories of those with more impactful accounts.
I still don’t know how I’ll tell my kids about all of this.
Some horrors are beyond words.

But it is more important to remember every single soul who charged the gates of hell,
Without knowing if they would make it back out because there were other people to save.
It is important to remember those who sifted through the rubble,
And took on pain and suffering for years because they could not fathom doing otherwise.

Today is a difficult day, with a complex, messy, complicated history.
Today caused us to do things not worthy of the great City on a Hill.
Today should be remembered, for both the good and the bad.
Today should provide us an example of us at our best, as well as admonishment to do better.

Today is a day for asking ourselves, what are the lessons of twenty-three years of all this?
Did we do the right kind of good in the aftermath?
Did we react in a way that will make our children proud?

2,977 innocent people.
Victims and heroes.
“Are we worthy of their sacrifice?”