It is impossible to describe the fear, sorrow, confusion, brutality, helplessness, misery, violence, hate, just everything that defines the day the world, and especially The US, learned how evil evil can be. Words alone are not enough. The terror attack on the World Trade Center and Pentagon demanded 2986 human lives, and all of them were somebodies husband, wife, son, daughter, mother, father and friend. They were all loved by someone and unjustfully taken away for forever. 9/11 is a day that will be remembered as a tragedy that stands alone in the world history.
Ten years have passed by since that day which even today seems unreal, but for many it feels like it was yesterday that the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and Pentagon on the 11th of September 2001. For those who are reminded every day of the indescribable disaster by not being able to be with their loved ones, it’s not just a painful memory. More than 3652 days have gone by, Osama bin Laden is killed, Al Qaida is weaker than ever and life is back to normal, but the heart still bleeds. We will never forget. We can’t forget.
The 22nd of July we were once more reminded of the cruelness the human kind is capable of. 77 people were killed, most of them children or teenagers who only got to experience a fraction of what life has to offer. Some called it Norway’s 9/11. Whether it’s right to compare the two disasters is debatable, but one thing is for sure, words alone are not enough to describe that day. It’s a day we Norwegians will carry in our hearts until the day we die. What came next though is almost a miracle. Instead of reacting hatefully towards the unthinkable crime that was committed, we answered with love, care and solidarity. A frightening massacre didn’t provoke an increase in sale of weapons, but record sale of flowers. The 22nd of July 2011 did not only demonstrate the malice, but it brought up the human kindness.
So in all this tragedy, violence, sorrow and misery the world has to offer, we must not forget all good the human kind is capable of. We must not forget the essential kindheartedness which we can find in every human being. We must not forget the man who won independence for a whole country by encouraging nonviolence. We must not forget the woman who helped the people of Calcutta raise from poverty and misery, and devoted her whole life to helping others. We must not forget the people who work for a better world every single day. And most important of all, we must not forget all the prosperity we can achieve together.
"Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand."
