The Commuting Capitalist

I will intentionally leave my suspicions on 9/11 out of this.

Could any of us really forget even if we wanted to?

I was 20 years old and will never forget my roommate running into the bathroom yelling about 'airplanes hitting something in New York.' I can still remember her hand clenched around the rubber grip of her hairbrush, her knuckles bright white, with the towel half hanging from her hips. The way the world came to a screeching halt as she stumbled over the words as if the air had been sucked from the room, leaving only a vacuum of disbelief and the whiteness of her hand holding tight to that hairbrush.

It was early morning in California, we hadn't even fully woken up yet and I could not possibly believe this was anything but a dream.

Downstairs on the televison, images of smoke pouring out of the towers looked like some poorly-edited action flick; the drama played out as the minutes passed and we watched with absolute horror as New Yorkers went running through the streets to escape the clouds of dust and ash that exploded against the concrete. I remember thinking even then that this could not be real, this could not be real, this could not be real.

Never forget.

Our greatest tribute to the victims of that terrible day is the legacy that we leave future generations of Americans - we are not a country of cowards but one of revolutionaries and it is in how we embrace our post 9/11 America with strength and wisdom that we are able to heal. We are not a country crippled by fear but one fortified with newfound gratitude and courage for what lies ahead in this country's as yet unwritten future.

We will never be the same, we will be better.

As I head home tonight from my office, I am especially moved by the flag perched above San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square. Even though i'm leaving work past 7 pm on a Friday night, the only feeling I can muster is one of absolute gratitude. I am grateful to be an American, today more than any other day. I am grateful to have the right to criticize and speak my mind and dress as I choose and do what I want without fear.

That is the core principle this country was founded upon and no one can ever take that away from us. No one.

I'd like to see them try.

Forgive the cliché but God bless America.

NEVER forget. I grieve for the shape our country might take if we ever do.