Lights of Remembrance

This trip to DC was planned with purpose: I came to honor the anniversary of 9/11. I chose to go at night because the city feels different after dark, quieter and more reflective.

A single beam of blue light rose from the Pentagon and could be seen from all across the National Mall. The Washington Monument, the Jefferson Memorial and the World War II Memorial glowed against the dark sky. The names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial seemed to carry more weight in the stillness. Lincoln kept his watch, and Dr. King looked out from his stone across the Tidal Basin.

Memorials are built so we never forget. Standing among them beneath that beam of light, remembering felt less like a duty and more like a promise.