remembering

There's almost too much to say about this day. There are too many stories and memories and emotions. It's sort of tempting [for me at least] to just keep busy and not dwell on it. But living in DC makes this impossible - in mass first thing this morning we sang America the Beautiful, and as I looked around I noticed how many people were crying, and realized how many probably worked at the Pentagon, or had family there, or had been in one of the other major buildings fearing another attack. I thought of all of my friends who were at formative ages 10 years ago, and who are or have promised to serve in the military because of it. I thought of all of the sadness. Our priest, however, delivered a beautiful homily about forgiveness, and how many times we are expected to forgive our neighbors. He spoke about how God is the only one who can deliver vengeance, and how we cannot fall into the trap of believing it is our job as well. I had obviously heard sermons on these topics before, but not on 9/11. Not on the tenth anniversary. Not in DC.

The rest of my day was filled with moments that made my heart swell with sympathy and patriotism. We went to a baseball game, and seeing the whole stadium rise to applaud [more loudly than they did any of the players] the veterans in attendance reminded me of the moments of unity and resolve following 9/11. I don't want to preach, and I don't have anything profound to say, but I am, again, so proud to be an American, and so grateful not only for those who serve in the military, but all those who have helped us rebuild as a nation. This is a great country, and to pretend otherwise is to do a countless number of people a disservice. We need to remember that, and be grateful for it, and live up to our heritage not only in adversity, but every day.