Just like anyone who was here in New York City 14 years ago—and especially those who grew up here or who were at least here long before that tragic day—I'll "never forget".
I also won't forget how, through it's greatest tragedy in generations, this country came together, finding hope, support, help, and even salvation from places inside themselves and in others they never knew possible up until that point. We were each other's brothers and sisters. We had each other's backs. We were united, in hope, aspiration, and even love.
That was until the next election cycle, where candidates took all that good will and chucked it out the window, choosing instead to whip potential voters up with "us vs. them" fear and anxiety, instead of compassion for our fellow citizens. Suddenly the "bad people" weren't over there but right here, our neighbors.
And now 14 years later we are all witnessing how much worse it's gotten. We've given up freedoms for the sake of "security", real and imagined. ("Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." —Benjamin Franklin)
So I will never forget the tragic loss of life, nor the consequential national loss of innocence. Nor will I forget how in our darkest hours the citizens of this country rose to the hyperbolic possibilities of this great country we sing about in our anthems, and sung back then through tears.
And now, even if I wanted to, I can't forget the (political) ugliness that tore the already frayed fabric of a national conscience that had been the theoretical bandages and casts that were, up until a point, miraculously holding us all together.
Our politics and media have us believing that our enemies now are our next door neighbors. They want us to turn on each other, blaming one another for our country's demise. Yet those in power—those we put in power—are the ones who are actively responsible.
They have steadily fell the pillars of We, the (brave, giving, caring, hopeful, optimistic, proud, inclusive, accepting, understanding, loving) People, as those shining towers were fell on September 11, 2001.
Is this presently the best America to represent the 1000s of innocent loved ones and neighbors, the 100s of brave responders, the 10s if not 100s of 1000s of extra-ordinary average citizens from all over the country who helped the people of our city any way they could?
There are those who want us to forget. Who want us to be knee-jerk outraged at the pettiest of things. Any random thing we say, feel, or believe now merits an attack by default. If someone is "different" from someone else, then "they're wrong" and "they're the problem" and "they've gotta go". Someone needs help? Eff 'em! I got mine, you get yours! (And if I don't got mine I'm sure it's you're fault!)
So, to me, "Never forget" is not an empty yearly, conscience-appeasing platitude. It's a reminding indictment of an attainable ideology that deserves more respect than just a weekend of being hash-tagged.
It's an action phrase, demanding that we remember! We remember the sacrifice. We remember the attack on our way of life and collective spirit. We remember our indomitable national spirit that miraculously got us through the attack. Through the aftermath. Through our funerals. Through our terminable illnesses. Through our relocated families. Through our PTSD. And through to being able to get back to work. Through to getting back to something resembling a routine. Through to getting back to living our lives.
I remember New York City all the years I grew up in it before 9/11. I remember the New York City I had to learn how to stay in after. I remember the New York City I became so proud to be a part of. I remember the tangible pride I felt being an American. Those remembrances subsist me today, and through these days of national ugliness, much of it intentional.
I could never forget 9/11. And I to always remember how great this city and country—and its people—were post-9/11. For in those memories may be the last vestiges of optimism that I have for us presently some days. Optimism of how this city and country may be designed by doctrines and laws, but are both defined by the people who choose to live and behave in the spirit of those doctrines and laws.
I am bold yet proud to count myself among them, as I do many of you. Let us all always remember so as to inspire us all to do the good, healing work together, not the bad, destructive work that tears us apart.