Dear Christopher,

None of us will ever forget where we were on 9/11, or how we learned about the attacks on our country. Our hearts, and our innocence, were shattered on that awful day.

One of the kindest women I’ve ever known, Berry Berenson, was on a morning flight from Boston to Los Angeles. Today I think of her, and the thousands like her, who lost their lives in such a horrible way. I think of her devastated children, and all the other 9/11 family members who had to endure the harrowing experience of losing them.

September 11 is a painful anniversary. We share a collective grief on this day, but it is a grief that is significant. Every year, let’s dedicate ourselves more and more fully to creating a world in which such things no longer happen.

Is it possible to do that? I am reminded of an old rabbinical statement: “You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you permitted to abandon it.”

We might not achieve all we would wish to achieve in our lives, but we can move things closer to the goal. Our lives are not defined by what we achieve so much as by what we try our best to achieve. As citizens of the United States, may we try our best to “achieve a more perfect union.” As citizens of the world, may we try our best to achieve a more peaceful world.

Today, we live with a meaningful sorrow. May those who lost their lives on 9/11 live on with God in eternal peace, may those who still mourn them be comforted, and may all of us be deepened by the indelible memory, and the painful lessons, of this day in our shared history.

May we be the ones to change things.

With love,
Marianne