For some, there is sadness. The wanton destruction and needless loss of life is saddening, and this feeling is okay. For some, it brings hope. The hope that only comes from witnessing people come together, collectively under one banner, one cause. To do good. To help. And that puts faith back into humanity.
My problem is that for some, it is fuel. Fuel for the fires of anger. That anger inside, at an individual, a group, a group of individuals.
Let us not forget what this brought that continues to this day. I have seen the names of people that I once knew on the list of dead from the unneccessary wars that came out of this event.
Because of this event, we are there still, twelve long years later. It feels like we forgot about them, these people who woke up this very morning in a hostile environment, with no good reason for being where they are, dealing with the very real possibility of not living through the day. Or possibly worse, living with the real mental trauma that we have seen in so many veterans who have found their way home. And they are there because of this event that we have memorialized.
I think we collectively know that letting go is such an important part of healing. And yet collectively we don’t do that. We carry this on and on, this burden.
I wish we wouldn’t.
This does not feel like the burden of love.
