Now six years removed, Americans today remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as the nation’s greatest tragedy. Across the country flags will fly at half-mast, organized walks will honor the nearly 3,000 killed, and moments of silence for millions
Now six years removed, Americans today remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as the nation’s greatest tragedy.
Across the country flags will fly at half-mast, organized walks will honor the nearly 3,000 killed, and moments of silence for millions of citizens will evoke individual accounts of that day.
Some remember a lost loved one.
Some remember a friend or co-worker, who will remember a loved one lost.
And some just remember the frantic phone calls to family who could have been lost, the anxiety that grew exponentially with each busy signal or straight-to-voicemail answer.
But a direct connection isn’t necessary to share in the tragedy of the event.
And it shouldn’t be.
For one, the toll of 9/11 is too great for New Yorkers and grieving families to bear alone. It was an event of international significance, wide-wielding implications, major consequences — and it has changed the way we live our lives. It’s at least worthy of a pause once a year to reflect on where we are now as a nation in relation — a barometer of sorts to gauge the evolution of our collective whole.
In addition, remembering is a way of stepping outside of our own little world to connect with those around us.
The ability to understand and enter into another’s feelings, to empathize, is at the core of a functioning society. And it’s part of our job, as media, to facilitate this every day.
We bring you stories of people and events that have no direct correlation to our lives here on Kaua‘i, but the ability to nevertheless feel something in response strengthens community across state lines and national borders.
Pausing to think about someone else’s experience exercises one of our most important human attributes: compassion. It also has the ability to inform our own choices for the better, to place our lives in a broader context.
This is not to say we need to indulge in 9/11 or draw out the accompanying, myriad emotions year after year, from anger to fear to hatred to confusion.
Just like individuals move on from personal tragedy, just like wounds heal and are replaced with scars, distance will separate the raw emotion of 9/11 from the memory.
But this is not license to ignore the things that make us who we are — particularly the challenges and the sacrifices. That’s why we celebrate Independence Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving.
And it’s in that same spirit that we should take some time to remember 9/11 — if not our own experiences, then the nation’s.
