Today marks the 11th anniversary of the tragic events that occurred on 9/11/2001. I don't want to make this blog about reliving those moments through videos and horrible images. Rather, I would like to focus on how we moved forward.
For me, anytime you mention 9/11, very clear images of the days after the towers fell come to mind. The very beginning steps of us recovering. The images of all the search and rescue and therapy dogs. Yes, I know there were many men and women working search and rescue too and I am not forgetting them. But, for me, the images of the dogs in special "shoes" to walk on the hot debris or sitting at the feet of the human search and rescue, consoling them in the moments it all got to be too much are what stand out the most.
These images are not ones of sadness and defeat, but of hope and comfort. The message in each of those dog's eyes was "you will be okay". And we are.
We will forever remember what happened that day, we will forever remember the ones we lost, but we will also continue to move forward and grow stronger. Looking in the eyes of our children for what the future holds.
So today remember in the way that you want to. I will be focusing on the amazing job our K9 friends were tasked with. Not just the search and rescue that they did in horrible conditions, but the ability to comfort and console and in some cases motivate the humans to keep going. This is something I think our pet dogs probably do for us every day.
