“They Still Haven’t Gotten Over 9/11 . . .”

Ever since I heard that phrase quietly spoken from the audience at one of Bridgewater’s public hearings earlier this year, the words have remained engraved in my memory. 

I have often pondered upon that utterance which seemed to have come almost as an afterthought from a person who appeared to be sincere, if not sensitive.


This banner hangs in the atrium of the Bridgewater Commons Mall.

This week, the media – especially those of the printed page and the Internet – have been saturated with personal stories of people whose lives have been completely turned upside down by the tragic events of that fateful day – a day that forever changed the psyche of America.

So, I ask you, how do you “get over” 9/11 when, mere days before the commemoration of its 10^th anniversary, our government informs us of yet another credible threat scheduled to take place on the anniversary date itself?

You don’t.  You remain vigilant, and there is plenty of distinguished company to support my thinking:
 
Last night, I read a piece in The Wall Street Journal by columnist Peggy Noonan entitled “We'll Never Get Over It, Nor Should We,”  in which she gives her own account of why we should remember this day of “horror and heroes.”  (Noonan was also a White House speechwriter.)

I followed up with, “A Burden too Great for Anyone to Bear,”  the vivid Star-Ledger story of George Tabeek, the number two person in charge of security at the Port Authority for the World Trade Center who, to this day, cannot erase the personal torment which he feels about his dead co-workers.