Today is September 11, 2007. There are plenty of people out today, celebrating the firefighters, rescure workers, and World Trade Center denizens who lost their life in the terrorist attack of 9/11. My friend from business school, Andy Kates, was one of those.
The destruction of the World Trade Center was a shocking event, made all the more shocking by the incredible visuals repeated over and over for days in all forms of media. The people killed in the attacks are worthy of our remembrance, as are any and all people who die.
So today, let’s remember some others who died on September 11, 2001. These folks died with little fanfare, and we didn’t start wars to avenge them, and we’re not even noticing their deaths. Yet they deserve as much of our remembrance and respect as we have to give.
Let’s remember the tens of thousands of people who died from simple old age on September 11, 2001, after being parents, children, brothers, sisters, friends, and neighbors to those in their lives. Or those who died from cigarette-related causes (1,205 in America) or died in automobile accidents (134). and cancer (1,500). Still others worldwide died as victims of genocide, children died from malnutrition and dehydration, families were killed in wars, and some folks died from plain old accidents.
Many, many people died on September 11th. Let’s honor all of them, and remember that we’re all in this Human Race together, and we can share our sympathies, efforts, and remembrance with everyone.