Today my FaceBook feed is wrought with variations and recollections of the event of September 11th from twelve years ago. Â The personal recollections have shrunk from previous years and some simply share a photo or state, “Never forget.” Â Seeing that phrase repeated over without more context has begun to trouble me, and not just a little. Â What is “never forget” supposed to be shorthand for on this kind of anniversary?
On one hand I think it is referring to a kind of remembering that simple tries to honor those who have suffered, especially the handfuls of people who were not merely victims, but heroes who sacrificed themselves for others. Â It is good to remember heroic lives. There are, however, Â other kinds of remembering too, which may be mingled in there as well. Â Some ways of remembering may be the very spiritual disciplines of a never ceasing war. Â It strikes me that the real challenge we face is is not just to remember, it is learning how to remember, how to tell the story in such a way that is about speaking the truth, but it is also about speaking the truth in love.