No. I’m not from NYC, just Upstate NY. I did not lose anyone in the terrorist attacks that will forever mark that day in my mind. I am, however, American, and of the generation who will always wonder if it could ever happen again. Although it has changed the way we live forever in this country, the sadness is that it took something of this magnitude to wake us up. The greatest superpower in the world is not immortal.

Where many people may disdain the gory day long news coverage that will inevitably be constant on September 11th, I welcome it. How many other events in our history have been forgotten because time has put enough space between us? This one, affecting innumerable Americans, forcing them to live out their private, strong sadness in public once a year. Can you imagine?

There are those in my life who have lost things that are the most meaningful in a way that none of us can ever fathom on that day. Many also have lost things of similar value overseas, and with many members of my family in the military, this I can also feel for.

But, if we let these things not be remembered, in all of their detail, how can we live alongside the people who have had to endure without loved ones? Although they do not need these reminders and can never escape them, I think it behooves the rest of us to be a little more sensitive on this day, and in everyday when we decide to open our mouths to voice our opinion – political or not. About the memorials, about the war, about veterans, and about those who persevere.

Lets not assume we understand or invade their private mourning. Lets do all that we can: be proud of our brothers and sisters who still stand more patriotic than the rest of us, with much less reason to do so.

Lets be a little more American in the original sense of the word.