#Neverforget911 is understandably in the air today… And I – am contemplating it… that phrase – why we say it – and what it means – and what it doesn’t.
Never Forget.
There are some days – and some events… that are so – monumental – so catastrophic – so heroic – so incomprehensible – that our efforts to contain them with words fail…
There are some days – and some events – where the best – and the worst – in human impulses are revealed – and ugliness and beauty – in their purest forms – are seared into your heart and your body and your psyche and your soul.
And to learn what we are capable of – the great light – and the terrible darkness – changes you.
It’s not a choice.
You are transformed… by a profound “knowing.”
As living witnesses to history, today is not ours to forget – or “not to forget.”
We are that day.
It’s in our blood, and lungs and organs. It’s in our tears. It’s in our personal and collective history. It’s in every decision we make in the face of the worst kinds of cruelties.
How did they respond?
How did you respond?
How did we respond?
Forgetting is – simply – not possible.
That blue sky.
That black sky.
All that dark.
All that light.
All that love.
All that loss.
All that courage.
All that spirit.
Is now cellular…
What we learned – we can’t “un-know” – we can only – hide from knowing.
The question becomes – how do we hold the experience?
How do we honor it?
How do we honor them?
Today.
Right now.
The imperative becomes – not – “will we forget” – but what do we choose to remember… and how.