On the morning of September 11th, 2001 I tried to sleep in. The night before I was at work selling refrigerators and washing machines at Sears. I don’t remember if I had the 11th off, or if I was scheduled to go into work that afternoon.

I lived with an older couple, getting free room and board in exchange for helping them with errands and the house. I stayed in a small bedroom with enough room for my bed, a bookshelf, and an old desk that held my computer and a small TV. Most of the time they left me alone when I was in my room, only calling me if they needed something or when dinner was ready.

Occasionally the husband would call out if he thought there was something on TV I would be interested in. If the mood struck me I would come out and watch. The tacit agreement was I could come out, or not, as I pleased. If I didn’t, nothing more was said. Not that morning.

I remember his words after he knocked on my door, “Jim, you need to see this.” I was awake, but still laying in bed, not quite ready to start my day. I was going to ignore the suggestion. Several minutes later he did something very unusual, he knocked on my door again, “You really need to come see this.”

Reluctantly I got up and walked the short distance to the living room. He was sitting in his recliner, not laying back like usual, but leaning forward watching what, at first glance, I thought was a movie. “There’s been an accident”, he told me. “An airplane’s crashed into one of the Trade Center towers.” In those early minutes, an accident was the only thing that made sense. The thought running through my mind was how could an incident like this occur. Was it a mechanical problem? Faulty electronics? Then, as we watched, there was another dot of an airplane in the picture. It grew larger, and within seconds it crashed into the second tower. For a brief moment my brain still tried to assign some tragic, but conceivable, engineering cause to the crashes. Mere moments later it was if a switch was thrown in my mind – I knew this was intentional.

Like a majority of people I was glued to the television, unsure of the extent of the devastation. News stories were incomplete and occasionally contradictory. At first there was the small hope that the destruction would be limited. People were evacuating the buildings, and rescuers were doing the job they always do with selfless abandon.

But the grief inducing news wouldn’t stop. The towers fell, one and then the other. Rumors, and then confirmation, of planes hitting the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. “What next?” was all I could think.

I remember two feelings as the rest of that day unfolded. One was a mixture a fear and unbelief, the other was a feeling of helplessness. The rest of that day, and those that followed, the fear diminished, although the unbelief remained. In a way it was almost like I describe my color-blindness. I am hue blind. I can see colors, but my brain won’t always tell me what colors they are. The days following 9/11 were much the same, I knew what happened but my brain just couldn’t process the reality.

The feeling of helplessness was stronger and lasted longer. The immediate desire was to “do something”, the question was, “what?” I couldn’t help at the crash sites, and I was too old, even then, to join the military. I had no money to donate, and was at a loss about what I could possibly do. I did make a simple little graphic with an American flag, the Twin Towers, and the words “Always Remember”. I printed out a hundred or more and gave them out to friends and strangers. They even let me tape one to the register at work. Still, I doubt that I’m alone saying I felt totally helpless, unable to identify or do whatever it was that needed to be done.

It would still be a few years before I learned what a blog was and decided to start my own. In 2006 the 2996 project honored the lives of those we lost that day. I changed the date of the original post I wrote about Neil Dollard. It can be found here. In 2009 I also wrote a tribute to Norbert P. Szurkowski. In it I said,

The two men were from vastly different backgrounds, with vastly different lives. It’s possible that they had the type of nodding relationship that we have with people we don’t know, but who work near us. Whatever the reality, they both were killed that horrible day. To them, and all the others, we pledge to remember.

We are often admonished to “Never Forget” what happened on that day. I’d like to suggest we take a step further – Always Remember.

As we move past this 10th anniversary there is a danger that we could fail to remember the events and the people of that day. We cannot let that happen. My prayers are with the family and friends who lost their loved ones.

I started that day trying to ignore what was going on. Since then I hope to keep my pledge to always remember.

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Nancy Astor: “If I were your wife, I would put poison in your coffee.”
Sir Winston Churchill: “And if I were your husband, I would drink it.”

First — A quick update on the 2,996 project. As of this time, (8:50 AM Eastern) there are 2828 participants in the project. Just 168 more are needed. If you are a blogger, please sign up today. You can see the posts I’ve made on this project here. On September 11th I will be remembering Neil Dollard. This weekend, and over the next two weeks, I will be trying to find out more about Mr. Dollard who died at the World Trade Center.

Blue Crab Boulevard Images Matter – Honest Images Matter Most — “Moeller goes on to describe the history of imagery in wartime. Of course such images are enormously powerful and enormously influential on public opinion. That is why it is vital the images be honest.”

Don Surber Everything proves global warming — “Yup. It sure does. What do you do with the inconvenient fact that glaciers are growing in the Himalayans? Why just pawn it off as further proof of global warming.”

Right Truth (Debbie) Iran’s new phase in the Arak heavy-water reactor — “Iran’s president Ahmadinejad has kept his promise of August 22, 2006 to provide the world with a ‘new nuclear surprise’ in a few days. That day is today. Ahmadinejad announced a ‘new phase’ in nuclear activity at the heavy-water reactor site at Khondab, near Arak. This is a slap in the face to the useless security council at the United Nations, who meets on August 31 to discuss Iran’s nuclear program.”

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I’m sure by now that many, if not most, are aware of the 2,996 project. If not, here is a brief overview:

2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

On September 11, 2006, 2,996 volunteer bloggers
will join together for a tribute to the victims of 9/11.
Each person will pay tribute to a single victim.

We will honor them by remembering their lives,
and not by remembering their murderers.

September 11th is just over three weeks away. Yesterday event organizer D.C. Roe announced that the 2000th blogger had signed up to participate. Less than a thousand more bloggers are needed to join in and participate in this amazing tribute.

If you are a blogger I encourage you to join in. If you’ve already signed up, today would be a great day to encourage others. If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so. Now.

You can sign up here.

I will try to add links to those who are blogging about the project today. You can create your own link by creating a post and a trackback to this post.

Again, let’s push this very worthy project to it’s goal. Every victim deserves to be remembered. It’s the least we can do.

Others Blogging:
Curt — Flopping Aces
Scott — Speed of Thought
Beth — My Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

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