Six Sentence Sunday, My Tribute to 9/11

These eight sentences are dedicated to my neighbor, the night manager at Windows on the World the restaurant on top of The World Trade Center. On 9/11 he lost his entire staff, couldn't deal with the loss and returned to Australia.

The Day that Changed the World

            We can cure a multitude of diseases, create safer cars, trucks, bridges, railroads and increase emergency response times to greatly reduce fatalities from accidents and illnesses but we can’t seem to save ourselves from our most deadly enemy, hate.

            Smarter inventions, closer communications, charities, giving and expressions of love don’t rid our world of hate so virulent it destroyed innocent people, people unattached to the haters, people unaware they were on a deadly path.  

            Ten years ago, on 9/11, I lost my innocence along with hundreds of thousands of other Americans. I lost my ability to believe, like Anne Frank did, that underneath it all, people are basically good. In one day my beliefs were destroyed, along with those of all New Yorkers, that we were safe or could ever be safe again from people who hate.

            To those who lost people they loved, people they depended upon because of the actions of those who hate, there is nothing I can say to you to bring your loved ones back. But I can assure you I will never forget those who died at the hands of the haters.

            Every spring, when the daffodils gifted to New York City from Holland to commemorate those who died on 9/11 bloom, I stop, look and remember. They lived, worked and loved in my city and I try to keep the haters from removing the memories of their love from those of us left behind.