September 11th is a day met with more emotions than almost any other in our history as Americans. It is difficult to even pick one, deal with it and then move on to the next. For many of us they just come in a confusing flood, the result, at least for me, is usually tears.
This year, I decided it was time to really discuss that day with my 10 year old son. To tell him the truth about what happened. The evil and the heroism, the agony and the pride. We made it about 20 minutes into the movie of Flight 93 and had to stop. We were both crying and horrified as the high-jackers began their attempt to take over the plane.
Mom fail. We were not ready. In fact, I am not sure we ever will be.
Later that day, when we "recovered," I turned our focus to the heroes, the selfless actions, displays of humanity and grace. It helped ease our broken hearts to read these stories.
In my attempt to salvage our day, I came across this article from SDGLN. Again, I was moved to tears reading about the LGBT families that were broken on September 11th and never given the space to openly grieve and denied the compensation and support, afforded to straight victims.
I would like to think we have come a long way in the 18 years that separate us from that day. In some ways, I am not sure.
We can all take a lesson from their stories and make our wishes known before the inevitable or the unthinkable happens.
https://sdgln.com/commentary/2019/09/11/remembering-lgbt-victims-and-heroes-911