WE WILL NEVER FORGET

People of a certain age remember the Kennedy assassination in 1963, along with the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and then Bobby Kennedy. To be alive during the 1960’s also included the domestic violence of the Civil Rights Movement and the violence of the anti-Viet Nam War demonstrations. Generations of people were defined by the assurance that when someone started the question, “Do you remember where you were when …?” they already knew what event was being referenced and vividly recalled the answer.

     Emily Dickinson wrote:

“The bustle in a house the morning after death

Is solemnest of industries enacted upon earth

The sweeping up the heart and putting love away

One will not need to use again until eternity.”

As a nation we were profoundly shocked, frightened and saddened on September 11, 2001, whether or not we had personal memories of the 1960’s, or even for some, December 7, 1941. President Lincoln said in Gettysburg, “… from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion…”

It is altogether fitting and proper that on this day we mourn the dead and honor the heroes and re-commit that we will

Never Forget.