{"id":36596,"date":"2016-09-11T13:24:38","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T19:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=36596"},"modified":"2016-09-11T19:09:07","modified_gmt":"2016-09-12T01:09:07","slug":"remember","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2016\/09\/remember.html","title":{"rendered":"Remember."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\"5<\/a>
Downtown Manhattan, five minutes after the collapse of the North Tower at the World Trade Center \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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You cannot be unaware that today marks the fifteenth anniversary of the 9-11 terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n

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But, please, don\u2019t just pass indifferently over that fact.<\/p>\n

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Almost exactly 3000 people died as a result of those four plane hijackings.<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a>
Hours after the attacks, the Pentagon continues to burn. The dome of the United States Capitol \u2014 which was, perhaps, another intended target \u2014 can be seen in the background.
(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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The quantity of the sorrow that ensued and that, no doubt, continues is beyond human reckoning.<\/p>\n

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Here\u2019s just one way of thinking about it: \u00a0Probably at least a few of those who died in the attacks of September 11, 2001, would have passed away in the interim from other causes. \u00a0But, as part of a simple and\u00a0rough estimate, I\u2019ll assume that none would have.<\/p>\n

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So the 9-11 assaults have deprived us \u2014 within, really, just a few minutes \u2014 of roughly 45,000 human years of productivity, family relationships, service, learning, and growth. \u00a0Thus far.<\/em> \u00a0We cannot begin to calculate our losses. \u00a0The books that weren\u2019t written, the songs that weren\u2019t sung, the buildings that weren\u2019t built, the businesses that weren\u2019t launched, the nurturing that wasn\u2019t given, because those who would have written, sung, built, and nurtured them were taken from us. \u00a0The laughter, the expressions of love, the backyard barbecues that didn\u2019t happen. \u00a0The brides who didn\u2019t dance with their fathers, whose mothers weren\u2019t allowed to help them dress for their weddings. \u00a0The sons whose fathers weren\u2019t there to coach their Little League teams. \u00a0The daughters who didn\u2019t live to be married.<\/p>\n

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\"Shanksville,<\/a>
Former First Lady Laura Bush and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2010, at the site where United Airlines Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania
(Wikimedia Commons public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Let us remember them, at least a little bit, today.<\/p>\n

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And let us remember the heroism shown by so many, as well.<\/p>\n

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If you have enough time, the 2011 special broadcast 9\/11: \u00a0Rising Above<\/em><\/a>, by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and with narration from Tom Brokaw, isn\u2019t an altogether bad way to do it:<\/p>\n

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