Difficult

A picture is worth a thousand words.

And yet, sometimes pictures fail to capture what a few words can say.

I'm referring to the recent release of some transcripts from 9/11.

I was just reading some stories from Google News links about the transcripts and what people were doing and saying that day.

This will sound callous perhaps, but on 9/11 I was watching the news after the events and it didn't really hit me. I knew it was a terrible thing and a tragedy, but seeing the disaster didn't really hit me. It was a tragedy in the same way that suicide bombers and other acts of terror are tragedies. A horrible thing.

But reading about the transcripts and excerpts have hit me far more. There is a closeness, a sense of being in the tragedy that comes through to me and causes me pain. Even though that is only a fraction of what others felt, it burns inside. Emotions.

Sorrow for the loss of life, pride in those who put the safety of others first.

I wasn't there, I have never been to New York, and all I saw of the events were those that were on television. But from now on, 9/11 won't be about images of the act of terrorism, I won't remember this as an act of terrorists; instead I will always remember it as an act of heroism from everyday people.

Instead of 9/11 being a remembrance of fear and terror that those who perpetrated it want it to be, it is a remembrance of sacrifice and nobility that is inside us.

And that is beautiful.