11/09/2025
If you’re as old as I am, you remember exactly where you were 24 years ago.
You remember freezing in your spot, as your stomach fell into a pit, the hair on your body prickled and you held your breath. Perhaps out of fear, perhaps out of shock, but we all felt the exact same thing, all at once. We all felt grief, anger, sadness and confusion. We came together, as a nation, to mourn, to hold each other close and to vow to move beyond.
The above photo is of me, in 2009 standing in the rain in the center of one of the two light arrays. I felt the exact same way then, as I did that morning 8 years before.
I thought back then, it couldn’t ever be as bad. But oh, how wrong I was. Babies are being starved, cities on fire, wars raging, groups attacked for how they identify or who they love, profiled for skin color as white supremacy comes back into full frame.
My heart aches for where we are. I’m scared more often than hopeful, scared to raise a child in a world so full of hate, rage and judgement.
I wish, more than ever, we could find our way back to love, support and community.
I fear, however, it’s too late.
We may always remember, but it seems we have also forgotten.
#911
