Friday, September 11, 2009

Years ago it was my Father in Law's Birthday

My father in law, if he had still been alive, would have turned 75 on September 11, 2001.

Of course, that is not what September 11, 2001 is remembered for.  But my sister in law, who works for a newspaper in a NYC suburb, had the thought of what September 11 had meant to her before that day running through her mind constantly, from the time she saw the second plane hit (live) thanks to the newsroom TV set, to driving home that night on eerily empty highways.

September 11 is to my son as November 22, 1963 was to me and my generation-the day that defined us.

Like ripples in a pond, the effects of 9/11 spread and spread.... these are two of this ripples.  There are so many more.

1.  Several alumni of my high school died on September 11, 2001.  One of them was a probationary fireman, Christian Regenhard.   It changed the life of his mother forever, as this website shows.  In memory of Mr. Regenard is this center.  Another victim of 9/11 from my school, Ari Jacobs, left a pregnant widow.  The baby boy in the article will turn 9 soon.

2.  I knew someone local who lost his son, a BU alumni, in the North Tower.  The man told me, the last time I ever saw him, that he regretted all the late hours and time he devoted to his career and not to his family.  Not long after, he took early retirement and moved out of state.  His widowed daughter in law was mentioned in this same People article. 

So many stories....but can I dare say that 9/11, as painful as it is to us, may one day lie on the heap of Forgotten History?  I know that sounds like blasphemy but....the question of whether it should will be decided by the forces of History.

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