Linda Tolladay

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

Not in building infrastructure and helping folks build a future, but in assuring they don't have one.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

Our response to terrorism was to react in ways which only foster more terrorism. Sadly we appear not to have learned much of anything from the events of Sept despite the fact you can hardly move without the media asking you to relive every second.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

We forgot that Osama bin Laden's brother is Timothy McVeigh, and the Norwegian who shot teenagers at summer camp, the man who attacked the Unitarian Universalist church in Knoxville Tennessee.....

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

but at a time the world was saying “Today we are all Americans” we seems to forget we'd become part of a larger community of folks who've suffered terrorist attacks, that the good people of Belfast, Karachi, Gaza City could help us understand how to live through and move forward from this terror.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

But in the 10 years since that tragic loss of 3,000 souls, 30,000 innocent civilians have died in terrorist attacks in Pakistan. And no one is holding ceremonies of healing, or moments of silence or 24/7 news coverage for them.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

I was able to rebuild my life and care for my children and move on. I've remarried, bought a home, live in peace. But I'll also say that knowing you can't complain really doesn't change the fact loss happened, just makes you feel guilty for feeling the natural pain such loss brings.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

Beyond that sense of security our losses included my job, our home, belongings, friends, colleagues, the man I loved, pets, students, our nanny – we've never see any of them again.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

No one I know lost anyone. But losses we did have. The first was the loss of feeling secure. I understand fully well the fear in the hearts of New Yorkers after the attacks. For me, the feeling of safety and security I'd had which allowed me to travel all over beautiful Pakistan was shattered.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

We'd traveled in western Pakistan, to Quetta and Peshawar and seen bin Laden's picture hanging in the market stalls of Afghan refugees. We did not have the slightest doubt what had taken place had been an attack.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

She said “what?” and we, taking turns, told her this was an act of terrorism and Al Qaeda was responsible. While Al Qaeda was still an obscure group to most Americans, and Osama bin Laden not yet a household word here in this country, such was not the case for us.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.

We arrived home just before 6 pm that evening. His wife Judy was watching my boys and his son, just my son's age. As we arrived the boys came running up saying “someone hit the world's tallest buildings with a plane”. We figured Judy was letting them watch some disaster movie and walked next door.

Today is the 23rd Anniversary on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. I wrote this 13 years ago, as a reflection for a church service during which family members of the 9/11 victims shared a similar message. I post it again this year.