It doesn't seem like ten years ago to me. Or even ten days. Sometimes it is a pressingly current thing for me, like it was yesterday.
I don't want to talk about where I was ten years ago. I have told you all that before. I don't want to tell you how that day has informed the choices I have made since then, including playing a role (though certainly not the only factor in that decision) in my joining the Service. You know that already. And I don't need to tell you how fiercely patriotic I was before and am after...if you read this blog, I'd bet chances are you are too.
I don't want to see another picture or video of the planes hitting the towers or the towers coming down. And not because I think we should "heal" or "move on," but because I don't need reminding. My Service to this country reminds me every day...reminds me to do, among other things, my part to keep it from happening again.
What I do want to tell you about is how I spent the anniversary of the attacks.
We had a concert.
It was the most amazingly beautiful thing to see. We held the event in the Niguliste Church in Tallinn's Old City. The church was built sometime around 1230 and survived until it was partially destroyed during World War II. The church has been restored and was a beautiful, somber setting for a beautiful, somber concert performed by the artists of Eesti Konsert.
Their performance was beautiful, tasteful and respectful, a loving tribute to those who perished that day. And among our honored guests were the wounded veterans of Estonia who served side by side with our troops in Afghanistan, the families of those who lost their lives there, as well as Estonian first responders. Their spirit is the same that led members of the NYFD and NYPD to run in while others were running out.
This was, I think, a perfect way to mark the day that none of us want to remember on none of us dare forget.
If you would like to see some pictures from the event, click here (our Embassy's photos), here and here.
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