It is almost impossible to believe it has been ten years since 9/11. Like every one, I clearly remember my circumstances, working at a project at the Heinz History Center when we were told of the incident and sent home. I drove home through town and shuttered in fear passing our Federal Building wondering if it would be next.
There are all kinds of extensive coverage and exceptional events to help us make sense of an event of this magnitude. The New York Times did a magnificent piece: The Reckoning:America And The World A Decade After 9/11 and there will be the Dedication and Commemoration of the Shanksville Memorial for Flight 93 only two hours from us.
There is this monumental book: Tower Stories: An Oral History of 9/11 that relates the many simple acts heroism and The Person to Person History Tribute WTC Visitor Center created and run by the family members who lost loved ones.
I loved the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, from the point of view of a nine-year-old attempting to understand the tragedy that included his father.
Today NPR did a story on Father Mychal Judge the chaplain for the New York City Fire Department. He was the first victim of the incident whose death saved the lives of five men who carried him out of the Towers.
How do we make sense out of all of this? It seems to me the best way is to keep the experience at the most personal level possible and learn as much as we can about the bravery, the love, the sense of purpose, and the understanding. Then in the words of AA, let go and let God trusting that everything happens for a reason.
BubbeWisdom 