Rusty Weiss – TheRedState.com
Time heals all wounds. A saying we’ve heard throughout our lives. For the most part, it holds. Pain doesn’t subside after loss, of course, but time marches on, and the tears become fewer. The happy memories supplant the grief.
Why is that not happening when we reflect on the horrific terror attacks on 9/11? Why does the grief feel heavier, the haze in the coming days harder to clear?
The easy answer is the scale of the attack. The numbers are seared into our minds forever. It was a day when 19 hijackers, four airplanes, two towers, and one deranged ideology brought the threat of terrorism to the forefront in our country, taking 2,977 innocent lives in the process.
But the fog seems deeper than that. The grief, at times, feels harder for those of us who witnessed the events that day to cope with year after year. Time isn’t blunting the shock and pain. Instead, watching documentaries and memorials is doing the opposite.
Why? The contrast. The contrast with the knowledge of the current divide.
When viewers watch video footage of the attacks, most who experienced them in real time are instantly transported back to that day. It feels exactly as it did on 9/11, 2001. This eventually leads to thoughts of September 12th and the days immediately following.
That’s when American flags went up everywhere. Congress stood on the Capitol steps and sang “God Bless America.” A president who had just won a disputed election suddenly had rarely seen positive approval ratings.
People who had been arguing about hanging chads the year before were suddenly standing in the same blood drives, shoulder to shoulder at the same candlelight vigils. First responders from across the country drove toward disaster, eager to help, eschewing their own health and safety. Ordinary people were kinder to strangers for months.