Remembering…

A few weeks ago I posted a blog entry about 9/11. I told how we’d visited the site for the Freedom Tower back in 2006.

A few days ago, we got to return to New York City and see the now complete Tower in person. It did not disappoint!

We took our children to the 9/11 Museum. It was crowded, yet there was a feeling of awe, horror, and respect in the place as people remembered or learned for the first time about the events of that fateful day. My children were moved by what they saw. James and I were, too.

We remembered.

We went outside and spent time around the Memorial – one of the most beautiful, well designed, and peaceful memorials I’ve ever seen. The sound of the flowing water – a symbol of eternal life – as a backdrop to the thousands of names of people who died that day.

Here and there around the memorial, people had placed fresh flowers in the names of those who died, probably a loved one or a family member who has no other place to show such respect.

They remembered.

One man caught my attention. He looked like he’d just gotten off his shift from work – disheveled and tired. He went along the memorial, touched specific names, then gently kissed them. He remembered.

For me, the most moving part of the visit was this wall:

The remains of people who had been found but could not be identified were entombed there. In one day, one event, these people were gone. But they were not erased. They had made their mark on the world. They had given their lives, some sacrificially, some without choice, some without hope. But they were not erased from time. They are why…

We must always remember.