The beginning of September has been seared into our collective consciousness through fire and ash. The attacks on September 11, 2001, struck the pinnacles of American business and military might.

Anyone old enough will never forget where they were when the planes hit, or at the first moment they learned that hijackers rammed jumbo jets into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and fell from the sky in Pennsylvania. Many of those lost were working mothers and fathers, new immigrants, financial center workers, military personnel and first responders. They were sons and daughters, mentors and friends.

In the theory of six degrees of separation, we are hard pressed to find anyone on the East Coast who was not somehow connected to someone who was killed that day, and much is the same for the rest of the country.

As our police and military are on high alert, memorial services are planned for our collective losses on that day–a bright September day filled with promise that ended in tragedy.

Read more thoughts from Carol Evans in her blog:  We All Remember