What do you remember?

You had to see it coming. Honestly, it's September 11. 9/11. EVERYONE is going to be blogging, and emailing, and chatting, and posting stuff today about the attacks 6 years ago. It's the first major successful attack on US soil from an external source since Pearl Harbor, for pete's sake. The first major successful attack on the continental US since...what, 1814? And it was done using our own pride, our own open-mindedness, our own confidence in ourselves, our country, our way of life.
All of which were changed, even just a little bit, in an instant.

What do YOU remember? I remember it was a day just like any other day. I was doing my job when I got an email from a co-worker, entitled "OH MY GOD!!!!!"
I opened it up, and in it was a picture of a plane, flying into the World Trade Center. I figured my co-worker was forwarding some sick joke received from someone else. Only it wasn't a sick joke. CNN's website was overloaded that day. All work, or even pretense of work, ceased at my workplace that day, as we all gathered around 2 small TVs, trying to see what exactly was going on.
It wasn't a sick joke at all - it was sick reality.

And I remember the small things. I remember who I was standing next to, and right behind, and right in front of, while 2 dozen of us gathered around a tiny, 11-inch TV screen. I remember trying to call home, and the cell towers not handling the traffic.
Later, I remember talking to my dad about it, and I remember him saying that he never got to see the World Trade Center. They'd gone to New York City before it was built, and he'd put off going back since then, since there was always another demand on his resources. Besides, it'd still be there later.
Only now it won't.

I remember starting to walk back to my desk and hearing "OH MY GOD THEY'VE ATTACKED THE PENTAGON!!!"
I remember watching the Twin Towers collapse. I remember, later, reading accounts of the best and the worst of people on September 11 and the days following. I remember reading about all the people rerouted to Canada - and the wonderful people of a little town called Gander, in Newfoundland, Canada, who opened up their hearts and homes to everyone stuck there. I remember the patriotism. I remember flags flying everywhere.

I remember a lot of things. Rage. Anger. Disbelief. Grief. Determination. Pride. Gratitude.

It's interesting how easily we can forget. It's interesting how easily the events of six years ago can be put behind us. Where is the rage? Where is the anger? We can't sustain those forever - nor should we. Ongoing, relentless rage and anger and grief only serve one thing - HATE. Hate is what STARTED all of this, and hate will not finish it. Determination, yes. Hate, never.
But where is the pride? Where is the gratitude? Why is it we still whine about what we don't have? Must have the latest, coolest, hippest gadget. Must have MORE. Must GET more.

We'll never BE more by GETTING more. We can only BE more by EXPRESSING more pride, more love, more gratitude, more determination, more empathy. We BECOME more by being good people. If we don't remember ANYTHING else, we absolutely must remember that.

Be good people. Take pride in ourselves, our country, our fellow humans. Be grateful for the blessings we've been given. Say "thank you". Show other people we appreciate what they do for us. Show them we accept them for who they are - not what they can become, or who we'd like them to be. Accept people as they are.
This also means we need to accept that some people will never, ever accept US for who we are, and that they will do their best to eliminate us, and our way of life, by Any Means Necessary. And we must be prepared to defend ourselves. Being good people DOESN'T mean being Caspar Milquetoast or Pollyanna, stupidly hoping against hope that if we're "good enough" then everyone will like us. It's never going to happen that way, because Good People are always a threat to Bad People. ACTIVELY good people are even MORE of a threat. Ironically, being Good People is probably what started this in the first place - but it's also the only thing that will also end it. I'm not going to argue politics, or say that everything we've done is unequivocally good. I'm not that naive, nor am I completely stupid.
However, I do firmly believe that our country, and the beliefs that she is founded on and the rights that are guaranteed in our Constitution, are a threat to many governments and many organizations' way of life. The more people you have that think, and are encouraged to do so, the less chance there is of those people being dominated by the few people that want to run things.

Again, we're back to "Who watches..." and again, the answer is, "we do, because we must." We must be Good People, and we must be Intelligent, thoughtful people.
Think. Watch. Listen. Pray.
Then go out and Be Good People. People will remember you for it.