(Photo: Forever lost view from the World Trade Center’s Top of the World observatory. Credit: terraxplorer2.)

For my own 9/11 story, please see “On 9/11 I Lost New York”, posted in its entirety here on CHICAGO CARLESS, and in an annotated version on my Huffington Post Chicago byline.

You have better things to do today than surf through lunch on the Internet. There are important people in your life and you know you’ve been taking them for granted. Yes, I’m talking to you. Now get off the Internet, pick up the phone, and tell them so: husbands; wives; life partners; children; brothers; sisters; best friends. Every one of them. No, I’m not kidding.

A little embarrassment and a few lost minutes of productivity at work are no match for the regret that comes from never telling someone what you always intended for them to hear. And you know how long it’s been since you remembered to tell them–from the heart, really, truly to tell them.

If there’s one thing to remember from 9/11, it’s that you’ll never know when your final chance to say those things has passed. So before you forget and go on with your day, why don’t you tell them you love them now? Yes, right now. That’s something you know you wont regret.

So you’re waiting for what? Get off your ass and start dialing. Now. Don’t make me start taking names. Above all things, we must remember to love.

And we must never forget.

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