Will You Remember?


There are shadows that lead us -
and there are shadows that follow us closely behind.
They can be clearly visible on the brightest of days although some seem to be completely hidden in the darkness. Perception is the key to discovering them. Reflection is the key to understanding them. But we should never be content to think that our shadows can ever be truly gone simply because we no longer are perceptive enough to notice them or reflective enough to care.

I know that I will always carry with me the shadows of 9-11.
With every step I take, the shadowed memories cloud my footsteps like silhouettes of a burden too large and a sadness too great. They are a part of me. My gentle reminders never to forget.

Some of the photos in the video below were taken within a few months of September 11th, 2001. The dust had barely settled on Ground Zero and there was still a dizzying nervousness reflected in the faces of people wandering the streets, desperately searching for answers that would never come. Closure that would never be possible. Makeshift memorials lined the streets and a papered wall with thousands of posters of “missing” faces was a solemn reminder that many of the missing would never be found by their loved ones. A truly unfathomable reality. I slowly searched a posted list of names, sliding my fingertip down the printed pages until I found the name of my cousin. I paused. Holding my hand over his name, I said a prayer. And then I stepped back into my waiting shadow to reflect on the depth of that one moment. The importance of that one day. The horror of that one tragedy that would forever change us as a nation.

We have lost the innocence of our days prior to September 11th.
And the memory of that innocence has now become a shadow.
In the darkness or in the light -

We Can Never Forget.

Miradena