I'll Never Forget

I'll never forget the color of the sky that day. That azure would become the backdrop for the blackened plumes on the video clips played in a loop on every television station.

I'll never forget the togetherness, the unitedness. We were of single-mindedness in our sorrow, numbness, and rage. No one seemed capable of understanding what had happened; indeed, I couldn't fathom the abstractness behind the devastatingly concrete act.

I'll never forget the profound loneliness, even among the thousands who attended the memorial service on the campus mall. It was warm, but not hot, a signal that autumn was drawing near. The mall on September 12 should have been home to students playing frisbee, chatting with friends, and enjoying college. Celebrating the joys of youth. Instead, we sat morosely, together yet alone, instantly sobered, suddenly aged, realizing that the world was no longer the same.

I'll never forget.