We are all here. Some will reflect, others will try to ‘move on’. But we are all here, whether we like it or not. We sit 10 years out from the day that changed EVERYTHING. I try to remember what pre-9/11 felt like and I can only think of how my kids have no reference point. They were too young when it happened to have memories of air travel without taking off their shoes or worrying about liquids in tiny bottles. They have no idea what it was like to live in a world that did not have colored levels of terrorist warnings.
This is their norm. And there is nothing about post 9/11 life that saddens me more.
I keep remembering a class trip being cancelled some time shortly after 9/11 because we were in orange and schools in our area would not cross bridges or tunnels in orange. My son asked me what color level they cancelled class trips for when I was his age. It was hard to explain to him that there were no terror threats when I was young. He simply did not understand this.
It was not his norm.
The photo above was taken by Susan. She usually sends me funny things that she sees. This time she sent me something that moved her. As she said, finally a red cup put to good use. (for those without teenagers, the proverbial red cup is synonymous with teen drinking).
In case you can not read the copy in the photograph I am inserting it here. This is a fabulous interactive piece of art that allows everyone who sees it to take part in its power. If you are in the neighborhood I encourage you to go out of your way to participate in this.
“In observance of the tenth anniversary of 9/11, illegal art has marked each of the 110 floors on the sidewalk with chalk, starting at 5th Avenue and 14th street and heading north for 1, 368 feet (417 meters), the height of the taller of the two towers.
Passersby, like yourself, are encouraged to walk the height of the once standing buildings along 5th Avenue and write any words that express your feeling or experience related to 9/11.
May the threats be idle and may you all heal but never forget the power of hate and the subsequent power of humanity that followed.