Seven years ago today I was fifteen years old and getting ready to school for the day. I was a sophomore in high school, and I remember in the morning watching the news. There was a story about a monkey that was roving loose in New Hampshire and they had been talking about it all week. I remember thinking to myself "wow, today has to be an incredibly slow news day."
There is no need for me to recount to you what happened later that morning. It has been branded onto our collective conscience and we all remember where we were, how we felt, who we were with. Since then, shameless politicking and the flagrant need to use September 11th as an excuse for everything from drilling for oil to cutting taxes has lessened the emotional impact of the date, but not at the personal level. 9/11 did change everything, but not in the way George Bush wanted it to, and not in the way he said it did. September 11th gave our country a common purpose, and I think it's important that today we take a portion of our day to honor that purpose and the commitment we made that day to be better people, and to help each other out.
Under the cut, I have included some names and contact information for relevant charities. I hope you will donate if you are able.
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