There was lunch planned in DC today, but when I realized the date, I thought better of it. There are memorials and protests planned all over the DC and NoVA area today. When my brother was here a few months ago, we went to the Pentagon Memorial for the first time. It’s poignant and astoundingly moving and beautiful in it’s simplicity. Each individual is truly remembered, not just the overarching tragedy. It’s impossible to walk through it without crying.

In the District today, there is a protest march by American Muslims, and a protest march/ride of the protest march by American bikers. Timing and sensitivity issues aside, it’s nothing I want to come within ten miles of. It all just makes me sad. Deeply sad.

Every year, I repost the tribute I wrote as part of the 2,996 Project. James DeBlasse was killed twelve years ago today, along with 2,995 other innocent Americans. Protest all you want… But not today. Today is a day for being still, for allowing the hollow echos of the pain of that day to permeate your heart, and bow our heads in collective remembrance.

Read about James. Be still. Remember.