Always remembering - what does that mean? Certainly you all remember where you were and how you felt on that day 2001. The horror, the fear, the anger, the sadness - we cannot just put that in the back of our mind. However, what do we do with those feelings? Do we retreat, or do we learn from what happened, make ourselves more secure, and get on with our lives? We move on, but we cannot live as if 9/11 never happened. It was an attack on freedom, it was an attack on capitalism, it was an attack on Christianity and Judaism; all aspects of our lives that we can easily take for granted. As the years pass, those of us who do remember now have the job of teaching those who were born after 9/11/2001, or those who were too young to remember, that there are reasons for honoring each anniversary. It is our responsibility to teach them that the very basic parts of our lives; family, religion, occupation, and education, are freedoms that are constantly being challenged, and we have to respect and honor those who have sacrificed to give us what we sometimes take for granted.
I find myself caught up in a new show on HBO called "The Leftovers." For those of you who do not know the story, the show begins on the third anniversary of an event that happened on October 14. Two percent of the world's population just vanished in an instant, and the world is left to wonder if this event is "The Rapture" as is written in the Bible. To clarify, I am not bringing this up to get biblical. One of the story lines in the show involves a cult group that has formed across the world and they call themselves the "Guilty Remnant" or GR. This group's works are all focused on making sure everyone remembers what happened on October 14. They want everyone to understand that moving on as if it never happened is a fallacy. Members of the GR go to extremes, including violence and sacrificing their own lives, to get their message out. To the GR, October 14 was not just a wake-up call from God to get our act together, it was an event that, according to the Bible, signals the rise of evil and the end of our civilization in the very near future. For them, there is no moving on.
The first season finale episode just aired this last Sunday and I was glued to my seat to find out what was to happen next. Would we find out that the event on October 14 was indeed "The Rapture?" In the episode, the GR carries out a plan that, while not violent, is cruel, and it incites a riot by the townspeople who rise up and retaliate with their own physical attacks against GR members and end up burning down their compound. The main character in the show is a policeman who comes to the aid of a GR member that has been severely beaten. The GR members have taken a vow of silence and any communication is done through facial expressions or by writing out what they want to say on a pad of paper. The policeman gives this injured GR member a pad to answer his question of why did they carry out this plan that has resulted in so much violence. On this pad of paper she writes "WE MADE THEM REMEMBER!" I am not bringing this all up to suggest that 9/11 was a sign from God, and moving on with our lives is a fallacy. I just found the airing of this particular episode to be very timely coming just a few days before September 11, because the common message we are all going to see and hear this week is to "Never Forget!"
Tomorrow, as I have done for the last twelve years, I will be flying United Airlines, again this time to New York and back. I do so to remind myself and others that, in spite of what happened in 2001,we still have the freedom to get on a plane and go where ever we want across the globe. More importantly, I want to honor the hard working crew members and other employees on the front lines of United and other airlines. The first people to lose their lives on 9/11 were flight attendants, and sadly airline management and the traveling public seem to take for granted their importance and contributions. They are highly trained, put in long hours, and deal with those of us who have one complaint or another about service. For the flight attendants, and for all airline employees, 9/11 is a reminder of the friends and family they lost on that day, and that they carry the burden of making us feel safe. Customer Service Agents, Baggage Handlers, Mechanics and Technicians, Dispatch, Reservations, Flight Attendants, Pilots - all of the employees of an airline have to remain vigilant every time they go to work. When they clock-in tomorrow, they will remember what it was like for them on September 11, 2001. It is a day they cannot forget. None of us should forget, and it is up to us to make sure the day is not only used as a reminder of what was lost, but as a reminder of what we still have.
