A Nation of Good

Tomorrow I will take my five-year-old's hand and walk with him from his school to a gathering place for the entire district to stand and remember. 

My little giant of only three will be there as well.

Nearly every one of these children will have no memory of that day. Those old enough to "try" to remember won't recall much. They may remember parents in tears, the news on. They may remember the silence.

My God, I remember silence.

Every moment from the time the first plane hit is catalogued in my mind. Every moment. I remember my physics teacher turning off the television when we saw the black streaks falling from the windows. It took a moment for most of us to realize what those were. We all had the same look of horror when we all understood what was happening. When we realized the choice people were making. 

No one spoke.

It took hours and days and weeks to process the absolutely horror. Took our breath away to think of the firefighters and first responders walking into the blackness.

Everything about those images, those emotions, everything is still felt and known and lived. It gives me chills to think of when I heard my brother's voice on the phone after too many hours of his phone not responding. The image of our past president getting the news while reading to children.

Children who are like my littles now. Who have known war their entire life without having any true understanding of what war is. 

I pray that they never know a day such as this. I pray that our country forever remembers and honors and respects. I pray that they learn that good people ran into that blackness to save lives. That good people gave their lives for others. That good people stood up on September 12th and enlisted in service to this nation because that terror - that amount of hate - must never, NEVER come to our shores as it thrives beyond others. 

My children will know of this day. Some day I will sit with them and watch footage and talk and tell them what I remember. I will not leave it for just their history books and short paragraphs and political debate about what followed after. They will know from me. They will know from C. They will know that the only way to overcome evil is to live with goodness. That the best way to honor is to remember. And that when the flag is lowered on the 11th of September, we are a nation in mourning, a nation of healing, a nation of good.