It seems unimaginable that it’s been five years since the world witnessed the devastating attacks on the United States of September 11, 2001. On that beautiful, late-summer day in New York, Washington, D.C., and in a small town in Pennsylvania, close to 3,000 people were killed, and many more injured. It was a day most of us will never forget — nor should we.

To commemorate the anniversary, the media have been showing many reports, stories, and updates from survivors. Over the weekend, as I am sure many of you did, I read several stories in newspapers and on the newswires that brought back my own memories of where I was, where my family was and the impact that day had on our lives. The one story that made the biggest impression on me was a column by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition entitled “The Sounds That Still Echo from 9/11.” She noted that of all the sounds people heard that day, those of phone calls made and messages left are the ones that still have an enduring emotional impact.

As Noonan wrote about that day, “Life was reduced to its essentials. Time was short, so people said what counted, what mattered… there is no record of anyone calling to say, ‘I never liked you,’ or, ‘You hurt my feelings’… Crisis is a great editor. When you read the transcripts that have been released over the years it’s all so clear.”

Noonan’s conclusion was pretty consistent with my own: “People are often stronger than they know, bigger, more gallant than they’d guess. And this: We’re all lucky to be here today and able to say what deserves saying, and if you say it a lot, it won’t make it common and so unheard, but known and absorbed.”

It’s a great reminder for all of us to take the time to tell our loved ones that we love them, and our colleagues that we appreciate them. Don’t worry about saying it too often – after all, you never know when it will be the last time you’ll have the opportunity.

Never forget,

Anne Llewellyn, RN-BC, MS, BHSA, CCM, CRRN
Editor-in-Chief of Across My Desk, Case in Point magazine, and the Case Management Resource Guide
allewellyn@dorlandhealth.com