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This one we can't forget

Two things I never thought would happen in my lifetime did.
Man walked on the moon July 20, 1969 and terrorists attacked our country on Sept. 11, 2001. Both events were phenomenal and have made their mark in my memories forever.
But man walking on the moon led to little; you canít even find many young people who consider the event important. Some people are even trying to say it never happened, that it was staged like a Hollywood production. I sat and watched the television that warm July day, and it still boggles my mind to think that human beings actually walked on the crater-pocked surface of the moon. Until then, that glowing sphere in the night sky held only romantic connotations for me, the kind found in song and poetry. I guess, since nothing ever really came of the walk on the moon, no space stations established up there or anything, then perhaps it is easy to put that event in the mindís attic.
Thereís a big hole in the skyline of New York City where once two mammoth office buildings stood. There is no denying that thousands of people lost their lives that fateful day with repercussions extending far and wide. It was no Hollywood stunt.
But the shock of that attack and the mourning that followed has ebbed into low-keyed apprehension. As Sept. 11 approached this year there was very little talk of that horrible day, the day reality came home to the USA. Locally, I did not hear of one memorial service, one prayer session, one candlelight vigil in remembrance.
Perhaps we have forgotten, as a popular song goes. Perhaps the horror of the first and then the second place deliberately flying into the Twin Towers is now no more meaningful that the horror and violence seen in many movies these days or primetime television shows, for that matter.
Perhaps we have forgotten that people from our own communities, standing at the steps of our nationís capital in Washington, D.C. were petrified as they saw that plane smash into the Pentagon building and went running, they thought, for their lives.
Perhaps we have forgotten the heroism of those on the plane that was buried in a Pennsylvania field and the brave actions that possibly saved many more American lives.
Do we dwell on this disastrous event too much? I think not, because we have, for the most part, returned to the empathic lives we had before Sept. 11.
True, itís a little more inconvenient to board a plane these days. And emergency service and public health people have beefed up plans of action in the event of national disasters.
Weíve even conducted and continue to wage a ìwarî in the name of obliterating the evil faction that stands behind the terrorists. But for the most part, itís back to normal for us, especially here in mid-America.
What a shame, so many lives were lost, so many families torn apart and so much destruction was wrought and yet it appears to have slipped so easily from our minds.
Tomorrow is the day to remember. Where were you when that first plane hit? Did you watch the ensuing drama as the towers crumbled into a mass of mangled steel and ash? Did you enter a church for consolation because you felt helpless to do anything else? Do you remember the tears and the kicked-in-the-gut feeling that you had because no one had ever before attempted to beat us on our own soil?
Remember the tragedy Sept. 11, 2001, for heavenís sake remember how it felt when America took a blow to the soul. Donít pack this one away like the man on the moon adventure. This is much too important to forget.
God Bless America!

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