Sep 11, 2008 11:15 am US/Eastern
7 Years Later: Towers Of Pain Commemorated
September 11 Remembrance: A Sad, Yet Fresh Tradition Of Recovery
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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A woman who lost a loved one on September 11, 2001 holds up a photograph of the victim during the seventh anniversary ceremonies.
CBS
Of course, when it happened, many of us knew we'd never forget that day. Yet time dulls even the most painful memories. And this year, seven years after the attacks, the commemoration begins to feel like a sad tradition – like the beginning of history.
Almost seven years since the morning her son died, a mother arrives for a ceremony that has become routine. Something is different this year as though our minds are elsewhere, perhaps preoccupied by the election.
"I think 9/11 has sort of crept up on us while everyone was focused on what's happening in this country on a national level," said Sally Reganhard.
The ceremonies seem more modest each passing year. As if this were another version of Veterans or Memorial Day.
Look closely at the dwindling crowd, though, and you detect an unusual intensity in the prayers and catch the thousand yard stare in a fire chief's eyes and you get the sense this is very different.
"They tend to forget…memories fade, memories tend to be short. In that regard it's difficult as you look back," said Assistant Chief James Esposito.
"This is my son before the towers fell," Llia Rodriguez shares a photo of her son with CBS 2's Lou Young. "He was the second ambulance to arrive at the World Trade Center from Queens…it's still like it was yesterday."
It's the gap that stands between those of us who were there or lost someone close, and the rest of us who watched on television. Memorials dot the landscape.
Memorials by definition are meant to evoke memories which by their very nature change over time. So we look at the statues and read the plaques and stare down at pieces of metal, this one, from the towers - rusting in the rain like it was a piece of a ship from Pearl Harbor. You can already feel 9/11 receding into history.
The flags are an indicator; four, five and six years back they were everywhere, today, harder to find.
Only yesterday, marines retired the worn and tattered banners of the post 9/11 era. Taking the time to do it correctly, noting that many flags have not been replaced.
"Once a thing, a situation is out of the newspapers and out of the media, people seem to forget," said Al Cavallo of the Marine Corps League.
It might be a type of healing, although some of us remain wounded beyond comfort.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
September 11, 2001: A Day Of Terror
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