9/11 - Five Short Years Ago

By AdventureDad on September 11th, 2006 Print This Post Email This Post

Earlier today I was writing some stuff and getting ready to post when I decided it was not a good idea. Today is after all 9/11. I don't feel as strongly about 9/11 as I once did but I guess that's normal since time has a tendency to heal wounds. Another reason is that the U.S. government is doing everything in it's power to alienate as many nations, religions, and people as it can through it's horrible policies. I didn't feel like that a couple of years ago but it's gotten worse since then. But today is not a day to talk about governments and policy. Today is a day to remember all innocent people who didn't live to experience another day. Parents who never got to see their small children again and kids who are growing up without a parents. And many others who suffered that day, not only in U.S., and continue to suffer today. Some thoughts should go to the people and children in Iraq who perhaps have suffered most of all.

I lived in NYC for many years and was fortunate to be there during 9/11. I say fortunate because the city was amazing in the months after the tragic event. The people grieved together, worked together, and supported each other in a way that is uncommon for NYC. It was tragedy everywhere but at the same time it was a special privilege to be there. It's tough to explain. Five years has passed since that day and my life has changed a lot. Possibly a little bit because of 9/11. Many people, including me, started taking less for granted and realized that life is precious and who knows how long we'll be around. Me and Sandra have been fortunate to have two healthy and beautiful children since 9/11 and this has completed life in ways we never dreamed of before. But days like this it's important to remember the many who lost someone close that day. We didn't lose any close friends but we did know a few that died in the towers. Those are the ones we think of today.

There is another very good reason to remember 9/11. But not 9/11/01. Instead 9/11/04. On September 11 2004 the Swedish minister for Foreign Affairs, Anna Lindh, was stabbed to death while doing some shopping in Stockholm. It was a random act by a mentally disturbed person and not politically connected. She was very well liked and would most likely have become our next prime minister for the Social Democratic party. I hate politicians but Anna Lindh was different. She was smart, articulate, and more like a "normal" person. Crime like this is uncommon in Sweden and her death was a chock to the Swedish people. She left behind two young children and a husband.

Children are our future so I figure a good way to always remember that is some photos of the kids. I just hope I'm around for many more years and have the privilege of seeing them grow up. Have a nice week.

Click on photo for larger size