Reflections on 9/11

To start, let me say that this will not be a post commemorating those lost on that day ten years ago. There's certainly a time and place for that, and I appreciate those who do. But that's not my purpose in writing here.

A few months ago, I spied a Tweet from The NewsHour saying they were looking for people in a certain age range for a special project... I believe it was around 17-27, but that could be off. Anyway, since I'm in that age range, I responded. A few emails later, I was asked to prepare for a taped interview, and given a set of questions to answer. I could go refer to those questions now, but I'll just play it by ear and say what I feel has to be said.

In the past ten years, our country has seen some gains and losses. Ups and downs. Victories and defeats. But nothing has managed to pull us together like that chilling morning. We realized that we were weak. We could be damaged. We were not invincible.

And that made us stronger.

By seeing that we need to rely on each other, we realized that when we do, our strength is exponentially increased. Even something as simple as sitting together and being there for one another has incredible worth. But through the past ten years, something has changed.

We're fine with the relying on others part. Someone else will clean up after us, or someone else will answer the professor's questions in class, or someone else will protect me when I can't. And, sometimes, we all need someone else to do that. The problem is, we've forgotten how to be the one that can be relied on.

Of course, this is a generalization. There are those out there willing to step up and go the extra mile when others can't. But those people (which I'm not claiming to be) are few and far between. The allure of mediocrity is difficult to pull away from, and too many of my generation have given up. We need - not should, but need - to break through the routine of skating by and be willing to deliver above and beyond.

Because otherwise, what is there to honor? What are we trying to protect? If we give up and just skate by through life, hoping someone else will pay for our actions, we're missing out on so much and settling for so little.