Posted by
Jennifer Waite on Thursday, September 11, 2008 1:32:03 AM
When anniversaries of any tragedy roll around, especially 9/11, many discuss what are appropriate and inappropriate ways to spend them. Some will relive the grief all over again tomorrow. Some will long for a way to tune out of all media and ignore the day. Some will seek out some sort of public remembrance to participate in. I think I’ll go back to the clichés of living each day to its fullest, appreciating the simple things, remembering that there’s no guarantee of tomorrow and most of all remembering the souls that aren‘t here to do the simple things anymore. The morning of 9/11 started with thousands of simple, mundane activities which the victims had no idea would be their last. As I complete the tedious tasks I do every other day, I hope tomorrow I’ll appreciate that I get to do them at all. That I’m home with my kids because I have a husband that provides for us. That my kids are healthy and thriving and if they’re not I have access to American healthcare. That that weird smell coming from the fridge is because we have TOO MUCH food. That I have the right to express every idiotic distasteful thought that comes through my mind for the whole world to read. That if you come in my house without permission I can shoot you.
For those of us that were born here, do you ever think about the sheer luck that we were born here and not in Leningrad or Bei Jing or Pyong Yang. I do. Freedom should be a right, but unfortunately it’s a privilege. That’s it. No witty conclusion today.