I was listening today 9-11-08 to an NPR broadcast while driving my car. A man had written a book about West Point graduates and how their lives were affected by 9-11-01. One of the widows was there also of a West Point Grad killed in Iraq. She said that her husband was always quoting Voltaire, the French philosopher who once said, paraphrased, "I may not agree with what you have to say but I will die defending your right to say it!" At this point I found tears streaming down my face as a clearer understanding of the troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan emerged within me. I needed to cry. I needed to hear this quote by Voltaire. I needed to know that because I can cry I am not one of the 70,000 in New York City that have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder because of their experiences on 9-11-01 and afterward.
Everyone in the free world and beyond was wounded that day. The question is: Can you live with it and move on or has it crippled you for life? Each of us can only answer that question alone in our heart of hearts as we go to sleep at night.
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