A decade ago, I woke to a crisp fall dawn in the high plains of Wyoming. As I lamentably departed my warm cocoon of pillows, sheets, and blankets, I switched the TV on to the morning news and started getting ready for class. From there, my story probably sounds a lot like yours…
As we each remember that day- where we were, what we were doing, and who we were with- we each have our own unique memories, details, and effects from the experience. Greater than the particulars though, was the uniting sense of being human. The magnitude and awe of the unfolding tragedy, and the compassion for the victims and their families felt by the watching world, were humbling indicators of what is at the core of humanity. That day, we witnessed the best and worst of what we are.
This morning, under beautiful Tennessee skies, my TV broadcast the memorial service honoring those taken 10 years ago. As each name was read, I was pulled a little further back into the emotion of that day. The longer it took to read each name, the more evident- and senseless- the enormity of the loss became. Watching the children of the fallen speak, those who were just babies then, particularly tugged at my heart. Their innocent spirits intact, after such an undeserved injustice…
Unexpectedly, a few tears began to chase my cheek. My dog, adorably sensitive and sweet, came and licked them off. With big brown imploring eyes, he wagged his tail and looked at me trying to understand why I was upset. I think that’s when it hit me. He can’t understand what happened- he wasn’t even around then, and even if he were, words wouldn’t help his little doggie brain. Maybe in that realization came the simplest truth. We do have words to communicate the motives and methods for what happened that day, but they hardly make the attack make sense. Whether we lived through that day or not, we too may never fully understand.
One of the victim’s family members ended his memorial with a phrase his loved one used to live by: “Love yourself; be good to others, and enjoy life.” In a world that may never make sense, and for the short time we are all here, that sounds like the way to do it to me.
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