I know the question on a lot of our minds today is this: where were you when the twin towers fell?

Speaking as someone who has a truly terrible memory this is one more way I’m reminded of how life changing that day was. I can picture with perfect clarity my desk, the office around me, the sound of the radio when the first announcement came over it. I remember wondering if this was a joke — that morning program loved to sprinkle jokes in so it took a moment for reality to register. I’m sure a big part of that was how impossible reality seemed that morning. A plane flying into a New York building? Let alone two?? It was unthinkable.

It’s hard for people who weren’t around then to understand exactly what that fall was like. September 11th was a day filled with terror, uncertainty, confusion…it stretched on for weeks but there was also a fierce rallying. There were no red or blue states, liberals or conservatives; there were only Americans. Americans who came together with a singular purpose: rallying around the rescue operation and against those who attacked our country.

As someone who lived through a time when every last person here was united toward America’s survival I’m finding it impossible to reconcile that with what’s happening today. Where has our patriotism gone? Where is the urgency to protect our young? To bring our country out the other side to a place where it isn’t just another day with a body count scrolling across the nightly news? If we can’t find that unity I don’t know that we’ll ever make it out of this covid spiral.

Linda hosts Stream of Consciousness Saturday. This week’s prompt is “where.” Use it any way you’d like!