I took a
stroll down memory lane last week, but the truth is, I also sprinted part of
the way not wanting to spend too much time lingering with some ugly memories. I
reflected on good times and on tragic times, but all the events had one thing
in common – I had to keep moving. Life went on.
I took a trip
to Provo, Utah, to drop off my second son, Cody, at the Missionary Training
Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He will be
preparing to serve in the San Antonio, Texas, area, and will be speaking
Spanish. The training center is adjacent to my alma mater, Brigham Young
University. As we pulled off the freeway and drove up the street towards the
campus, the floodgates of my memory opened up.
I passed the
mall where I took my wife on our first date. We both swooned a bit at the memory and laughed. When we
started down the hill from the mall, I remembered how she used to stick her head
out the window to dry her hair as I drove her to work. I started to tell the
story, but Cody had already heard about it so many times that he finished my
sentence. We passed the stadium, places where we had lived, and old restaurants
whose names had long since changed. I remembered classmates, old girlfriends,
Air Force ROTC, walking up the hill to work, and quiet snowfalls. Images passed
across the theater of my mind and filled me with nostalgia and joy.
In those days
the cold war had reached a climax, and even though we didn’t know it, was about
to end. We worried about thermonuclear war and the resulting nuclear winter. Terrorist
from Libya bombed nightclubs in Germany, and President Reagan sent a clear
message of, “You can run, but you can’t hide.” We worried about the end of the
world in those days too, but life went on.
It was a nice
stroll down that lane of mostly fond memories, and although I wanted to linger,
I had to keep moving forward. Then as the week came to an end, I took a turn down
Elm Street, and repeated a nightmare – the tenth anniversary of 9/11.
We sat down as
a family and watched a documentary about that fateful day and discussed how we
felt about the event. I wanted to race past those tragic memories and haunting
images, but forced myself to slow down and remember.
Ten years. I
know you’ve heard it. I know you’ve thought it. “I can’t believe it’s been ten
years since the attacks of 9/11.” Even though it was a tragic day, life moved
on.
I wasn’t on
that road that fateful day. I was at home in Arizona and had just finished my
morning run. When I opened the door the Television was blaring. My wife met me
at the door in tears. When I witnessed the graphic images on the TV, I couldn’t
process the scene. As I stood there trying to make sense of it all, the first
tower collapsed, and so did I. My knees buckled and I felt like I was going to
throw up. We worried about the images our kids were being subjected to and
turned off the TV.
I sat there
stunned, unable to speak. Cody broke me from my trance. “Dad, we’re out of
milk,” he said from the breakfast table. That simple statement put me back into
motion. His childlike perspective wasn’t calloused or cold. It was practical.
My children inherently understood that time would not stop. Life would go on.
They
say our world changed forever on 9/11, and in many ways it did. But life did
not stop. It rolled on, changing daily.
Airport
security became an exercise in patience, and continues to be a sore spot for
travelers. We became familiar with terrorist cells, Al Qaeda, and argued over
the spelling of Usama or Osama bin Laden. We watched video feeds from UAV’s and
their smart bombs. We were relieved at discovering foiled plots like the shoe
bomber, the underwear bomber, and the Times Square bomber. We added words like “GITMO”
and “IED” to our vernacular. We endured strip searches and roving wire taps.
In spite of
the changes, the world moved forward. In Oct of 2001, the first Ipod was
released and revolutionized the world of music. Then came the smart phones with
built in GPS and multiple apps to make our life easier. Next came the Kindle,
the Nook, and the Ipad. Airbus produced the world’s largest commercial
airliner. Video conferencing, always a promise of science fiction, became a
reality of everyday life. Facebook and Google changed the way we communicate
and interact as individuals, and as communities. In the last ten years the
world did not stop. In many ways it actually improved.
Now it is
9/12/11. Life marches on. What goals are we striving for? What new
accomplishments are we seeking? What are we looking forward to?
It was a nice
stroll down memory lane, and therapeutic to rush past the horrid scenes of ten
years ago. I will never forget the lesson of my son’s prodding that brought me
back to the present. We should remember and learn from the past. It is proper
to give reverence to its memories both good and bad. But time doesn’t stop. Neither
should we.
Life goes on. Are
we going with it?
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