In the days and weeks following the attacks on the World Trade Center, New York City exploded in American flags and messages of sympathy and support from every corner of the globe. Tributes and memorials honoring those who perished blanketed every public space and private place of the heart.

But life goes on, as it must and should. The banners are taken down, the walls wiped clean. Time rounds off the ragged edges of pain and the darkest hours are swallowed up in the blizzard of everyday matters.

Many images stayed with me, one commanding particular attention was the photograph of a young firefighter from Brooklyn, lost when the Towers fell. This photograph, taped to a granite wall at the Battery Park Marina, showed a life full of promise, a man who took great pride in his profession. Under the photo on a strip of white paper in bold black letters were written the words

“ REMEMBER ME”.

It is the obligation of us all never to forget.