Never Forget
8 years ago today, on September 11, 2001, 2,993 innocent Americans and foreign nationals lost their lives in a stunning series of attacks.
In the days and weeks that followed, I collected a series of photographs from the internet and stored them on my computer.
I was determined, you see, never to forget.
Never to forget the day America was attacked.
Never to forget the shock, the horror, the disbelief, the tears of that terrible September morning.
Never to forget the punch in the gut I felt upon seeing this picture (and others like it) of a man leaping to his death from the World Trade Center.
Or the indescribable grief that roused again weeks later when I watched the French brothers Jules and Gedeon Naudet's documentary footage on 9-11 and heard the thuds of bodies falling--saw fireman flinch with each sound, saw the horror in the bleak eyes of the fireman who asked "Can you imagine how bad it must be up there, if that is the better option?"
Or the tears I shed, even today, reading the heart-rending Esquire article, The Falling Man, by Tom Junod.
Or the anger, the outrage, the determination and the patriotism that Leonard Pitts, Jr, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist from the Miami Herald captured so perfectly in his Sept 11, 2001 column, We'll go forward from this moment.
I was determined never to forget the dazed, numb, helpless feeling, as I asked again and again the inevitable and yet utterly unanswerable question of that terrible day....
....Why?
More people than I can count have tried to answer that question. Some have blamed muslims for "hating us and our way of life". (I have muslim friends. My friends don't acessorize with suicide bomber vests, call Americans "Crusaders" or fantasize about establishing a global Caliphate and subjecting the entire world to Sharia law.) Some people blame religious extremists who have brainwashed generations of muslim men and boys.
Some people blame us.
Osama bin Laden (supposedly) wrote a diatribe against America laying out all the reasons why "We Got What We Deserved" and telling us to expect more of the same. Some Americans share his views. (If you are one of those, don't bother commenting. You are of the same mental ilk as those who blame a woman for her own rape, and I have nothing to say to you except, "Please, exit from the gene pool quickly!") Some people blame it all on Bush/Cheney - "They knew! It was all a right wing extremist plot!" (Um, you get the same response from me as the "woman asked for it" crowd.) 
In the end, there is no one answer (though I utterly and completely reject the "You asked for it! You deserved it! You planned it yourselves!" wingnuts). Even if Osama bin Laden did write that letter, and he believed every word of it as did the 19 murderers who highjacked those planes and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and that field in Shanksville, PA--that doesn't mean their beliefs in any way justified in their actions. 
Do terrorists feel they have legitimate grievances against the citizens of the United States? I don't doubt that in their own mind, they do. There is a saying among writers: every villain is the hero of his own story. But no matter how valid their cause (and I'm not even going to attempt debating that here), I emphatically reject the idea that anyone (regardless of their grievances) has a right to wreak acts of terror upon innocent civilians. Sorry, folks. Murder is not heroic. Murder is not martyrdom. Murder is not noble.
And make no doubt about it. What happened on 9-11 was murder. Mass murder. The men, women, and children on those airplanes and in those buildings eight years ago were not soldiers (Pentagon military employees excepted). They were not politicians. They were not invaders of foreign countries. They were not armed and able to defend themselves. They were just people going about their business. Bus boys, waiters, secretaries, stock brokers, doctors, mothers, fathers, reporters, firemen, police officers, executives, tourists, priests. They were American, British, Mexican, Japanese, Phillipino, Australian, Columbian, Indian, Italian, Jamaican...people from 52 countries around the world. They did not deserve to die.
But die, they did. 9-11 changed my life. It changed the underlying theme of the novel I was writing--a manuscript called Tairen Soul, which became the published novels, LORD OF THE FADING LANDS and LADY OF LIGHT AND SHADOWS. In the books, and through the books, I have examined many of my own conflicts, thoughts, and feelings about what happened to America on 9-11. It made me think about good vs. evil and the nature of humanity.
And every year, on September 11, I go to my computer, open my photos of 9-11, and I remember.
I remember exactly how I felt that day. How I wept, how I grieved, how I could not believe it was happening.
I remember for the same reason Holocaust survivors keep the memory of Auschwitz and Dachau and Treblinka alive.
I remember, because neither I nor America can afford to forget.
A special thanks to all the brave service men and women who give so much to keep America safe, and to their families who share the burden of their service. Because I know none of you will ever forget either.
posted by C.L. Wilson at
7:36 AM
11 Comments:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us about this event. I believe that everyone was changed by this event; and that the world lost more than just some buildings that day. Even though I was only in 8th grade that day, I can still remember the horror and the fear.
I also agree that we should always remember 9/11; and that we should honor our troops. The sacrifices they make to defend our way of life are priceless.
And finally, I am honored to have shared just a little in your journey from 9/11 by reading your books.
Thank you again.
-Robin
Thanks Robin.
Cheryl
Cheryl...to this day I can not recall 9-11 without crying. I've put off writing this a couple days in the event that maybe I could. No such luck! Your words and remembrance are warm felt and beautiful and have been added to mine and when reading your books, I too will recall the events of that day.
Thank you for sharing.
Laura
Your posting of these graphic photos from 9/11 was beyond insensitive. I came to your site expecting to get an update on your publication date and instead was confronted by sensationalist photos of people that I knew and the place they died. For those of us who were there, we don't need to be reminded to never forget - we can't forget.
To Anonymous,
I'm sorry you feel that way. Distressing readers was certainly not my intent.
I share the opinion of Tom Junod, that the pictures of 9-11 stand witness to our loss--even profoundly personal loss--and that to show them is to stand witness to the lives of those who perished that day. It was with that intent--and a need to write a cathartic post about my feelings--that prompted me to post my 9-11 blog.
Cheryl, not seeing the original I can understand a bit if someone popped to your site and relived their own nightmare but I personally see nothing wrong with your post and I needed to remember. We tend to force unpleasant things from our minds that upset us... I was teaching the first day of a nurse aide training class in Johnstown PA just miles from Shanksville... my brother lives just miles for the actual site... I needed to remember what I DID'NT loose that day. I may not have been at ground zero but in my eyes I was close enough when my own loved ones could easily have been killed had that plane only been a few miles somewhere else and when you think planes travel at hundreds of miles per hour that tragedy was only minutes away from me and mine. Thank you for a heart felt post.
Darlene
Darlene,
This post is the original - I just included a "warning!" post ahead of it that would show up first on my blog page.
I appreciate your kind remark and understanding.
Thank you, Cheryl. It is a day we should never forget. I certainly won't. It's one of those "I remember where I was and what I was doing at that exact moment" days.
You put it all so eloquently. For those who were offended by your post. Tell them where to stick it.
I will never forget that day either. It was one of the rare days that we were all home at 7 o'clock in the morning and my young son had just figured out how to make the clock radio turn on by pressing the snooze button. For a moment, my husband and I were preening, proud parents, congratulating ourselves on our clever child, then the broadcast sunk in. I couldn't comprehend what the announcer was saying...like maybe it was some kind of hoax. They had unconfirmed reports of a plane hitting one of the WTC towers in New York. I went and turned on the TV and was utterly stunned and shocked and dismayed at what I saw. Our time zone is two hours behind NY so I was just in time to see the first tower come down. What a horror show.
That day will stick with me forever. I thought I had a clue about the capacity of humans for evil and destruction. My understanding changed that day.
I still cry when I think of the terrible losses of that day and ensuing days. I am still in awe of the incredible strength and courage showed by so many people in the aftermath.
Your post really touched me. I think it was well done. As for people who are offended...that is their issue not yours. If I want to see what is going on with an author's books...I go to their author or publisher website. If I want to see what is going on with an author...I check out their blog. Your blog is YOUR blog and you can say whatever you like. People have a choice about reading it.
I like to know the real person behind the books I love. Thanks for sharing that with us!
Laura
Liz and Laura, thank you both VERY much.
I must thank you Cheryl for posting this blog. I'm spending a year abroad, and have to admit that between the unpacking and foreign language classes, the day almost slipped past me unnoticed. Then of course I got online, and saw the messages of so many loved ones and friends took note of the date. You are right to want to remember, and it is certainly not an event easily forgotten. I was only in 7th grade at my Catholic school, but that day we learned nothing. We simply sat in our classroom watching the television screen and praying. It is so strange to be an ocean away yet share strong emotions with thousands of people back home. I won't forget, and I hope the world never does. I firmly believe that history has a way of repeating itself if people don't look to the past to figure out how to prevent such mistakes in the future. I for one hope to never again see such an atrocity in my lifetime.
But I'll try to end on a happy note by saying we should also take hope in the future. My friend's due date was September 11th. Perhaps it is a bit idealistic of me, but I hope her daughter lives a long life in a world of peace and tolerance.
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