Today, I went to my political communications class. There, people were smiling, laughing, and interacting as normal. They never missed a beat.

After class, I went to work. I dealt with a hundred or more customers, none of whom seemed even the slightest bit fazed by where they were or what they were doing. Meanwhile, every time I wrote the date 9/11 on an order form, I felt dirty. I felt dirty because I was writing it like any other date. I felt dirty because the customers watching me write that date on the form never even said anything about it. I felt dirty because everywhere I went today, it felt just like any other day.

I find it disgusting that the most solemn remembrance I saw of September 11th was on yahoo.com.

I am disappointed that the hundred and some odd people I saw today never even acknowledged that they were going about business as usual on a day of remembrance and memoriam.

It saddens me to know that I went to class and work on a day when I feel from the bottom of my heart that I should have spent it being a real constructive human being instead of a proverbial gear in the machine.

One year ago today, I was at work. I was at work when our nation was terrorized. I was making copies for businesspeople doing business as usual while I listened on a radio in the back of my store to a nation in fear.

It revolted me then and it revolts me today, one year later.

For many of us, we have not forgotten September 11, 2001, but we have also not let it change us. Like a pesky scrape on the knee, we have acknowledged it, watched it heal, and have resumed our lives. Well, what was little more than a scratch on some of our knees was a permanent scar on America.

Perhaps I place too much meaning on anniversaries.

It is currently 11:47. And I have business as usual to attend to. But instead of doing that, I'm going to stop tying and sit. I'm going to sit and think about the day that it seems many of us have forgotten already.

I haven't forgotten.

I didn't know anyone in the buildings. I didn't know anyone in the planes. I didn't know anyone who knew anyone in the buildings or the planes. And I don't have to.

My thoughts are scattered and my words are probably less than eloquent. So be it.

Please, spend a minute to sit and stop everything you are doing. Take a moment of silence to think about those who lost their lives, those who risked losing their lives, and those who continue to take that risk every day.

Still remembering,

B.J. Garrett

United States Citizen