A few weeks ago we called for readers to send in their memories of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks that changed the nation.

We didn’t get a big response. Not really enough to make up a section.

One submission asked if they could remain anonymous.

9/11 is not about me, they wrote.

Indeed. It’s not about any individual, but about all of us and the way the events of that day and the years that followed have changed the way we live. Things we would never have tolerated before we now grudgingly accept, such as the inconvenient security procedures at the airport.

Flying’s not so much fun anymore, not like it was when I was a youngster. Then it was an adventure – now it’s just the quickest way to cover a long distance, but quite a hassle.

There’s been other changes. As Sheriff Agnew noted, on 9/11 his department realized they weren’t really equipped to handle a determined opponent armed with modern weapons.

They upgraded, as have almost all law enforcement agencies in the U.S. Now most officers carry a rifle in the cruiser, something not generally thought to be needed before 9/11.

And as the Sheriff noted, we’ve managed to thwart any mass attack ever since, although as Fire/EMS Chief MacKay mentioned, there have been some “lone wolf” terrorist attacks, such as the Fort Hood shooter. And the Chief’s observation that our security must be right every single day, whereas the terrorists, and he has no doubt that there are some out there still planning, only have to be successful once, is quite sobering.

But what strikes us here is that, after 10 years, we have adapted, having made mostly commonsense accommodations to a world less friendly than what we faced a decade earlier. And we’ve moved on.

As 9/11 recedes further into history it will inevitably become itself just a part of history. For those born after that date, it will have always been so that the nation lives under threat of terrorist attack.

So we may be experiencing 9/11 fatigue, or perhaps better said, 9/11 resignation. Things are the way they are and there’s no going back to the way they were before. We, and it’s in a way painful to admit it, have gotten used to a reality that few would have imagined before.

Pain at home
Last week brought events that perhaps properly overshadowed memories of a 10-year-old tragedy, as the county lost two key employees on one day. Goochland is a small county and it’s clear that the county government is a tight-knit operation where people not only work with each other but care about each other as well.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families of Don Charles and Debra Pierce in their time of loss.