Living here, it’s hard to get through today without feeling compelled to say something. Although it seems everything has already been said and there are no new words to express the emotion behind every anniversary, there is plenty of reflection and patriotism being silently carried by everyone in this town.
Freedom
It’s my 11th Patriot Day – 11 times this date has had meaning in my life. But it’s my first working in the Financial District of Manhattan. My first time getting out of the PATH station to masses of camera crews and more cops, it seems, than there are pedestrians. And it’s the first day I spent walking to work in the hustle bustle, the mayhem, and the monotony of my commute where I actually stopped to look up. Normally, it’s such a tourist thing to do – or the sign of a novice Manhattan commuter – but today I allowed myself the transgression.
This is the history our generation was a part of – the event we lived through rather than read about in textbooks. It’s that memory where “you’ll always remember where you were when…” For my mom it was the Kennedy assassination. She was on the kindergarten playground. For me, it was listening to an announcement over the middle school’s loud speaker that offered vague news that I couldn’t begin to understand.
Today is different. And today we always remember why we love this country. And I remember how much I love New York.
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