Joe Biden commemorates 9/11

Anyone who lived through 9/11 will never forget that day. For myself, I still remember everything I saw and felt in minute detail. The disbelief. The horror. The concern for my friends in the city. And the creeping certainty that nothing would ever be quite the same again.

Much has been said on this day over the years, but I haven’t seen anything more moving than Joe Biden’s tribute to Flight 93 today. The post at the link needs to be read in full, but these excerpts from Joe’s speech speaks to everyone who has ever lost a loved one:

I also know from my own experience that today is just as momentous a day for all of you, just as momentous a day in your life, for each of your families, as every September 11th has been, regardless of the anniversary. For no matter how many anniversaries you experience, for at least an instant, the terror of that moment returns; the lingering echo of that phone call; that sense of total disbelief that envelops you, where you feel like you’re being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest. [...]

My guess — and obviously it’s only a guess; no two losses are the same. But my guess is you’re living this moment that Yeats only wrote about, when he wrote, pray I will and sing I must, but yet I weep. Pray I will, sing I must, but yet I weep.

My personal prayer for all of you is that in every succeeding year, you’re able to sing more than you weep. And may God truly bless you and bless the souls of those 40 incredible people who rest in this ground.

I didn’t lose anyone that day, but in the years since I’ve lost all too many friends and family. Joe Biden is right. No two losses are the same. But they all hurt and time never heals the wound entirely. All any of us can do is to learn to live with the pain while we cherish the memories. [Video of Joe Biden's speech at the link.][Photo via Holly Bailey]