The 2,996

"Under this tree people of all faiths and nationalities, united in grief, laid wreaths in memory of those killed on 7th July 2005, following the attacks on London's public transport system."

They stood at high noon for a two-minute silence, as they did almost 100 years ago on Armistice Day. The Queen, in her pink summer dress, stood in the doorway of Buckingham Palace. Prime Minister Tony Blair stood outside No. 10 Downing. Over 1,000 Londoners gathered quietly in bleachers. Broken only by the tolling of Big Ben, across England the Two Minutes Silence was observed. Even Tiger Woods bowed his head at St. Andrews on the 14th Hole of the British Open, and stood respectfully during the Silence.

A year ago, on July 7th, the London Transit system was hit by terrorists at the peak of rush hour. Fifty-two people were killed and 700 injured in the four attacks. At the time, Porcupine wrote this post (HERE) about his beloved London. Still, when he thinks of that day, Porcupine sees the quiet gent in the blue suit, head streaming blood like a fountain, politely and precisely describing how close he had come to death. Porcupine is sure he was there today, dignified and appropriate as ever, as England honored its dead on a tragic anniversary.

We have another anniversary looming here - the fifth anniversary of the September 11th plane hijackings and the deaths at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania. Porcupine would like to share with fellow bloggers a unique opportunity to observe that day in a way that may be as touching and respectful as the British observance.

A blog has been started by D. C. Rowe – click HERE - which will assign a single victim at random to any person willing to blog about that person on that day. He hopes to assemble 2,996 bloggers to do a tribute to every person killed. Porcupine has signed on, and will be presenting a post about a very special lady on that day. We can all state the obvious, that terrorism is still alive as evidenced by the weekend arrest of plotters planning to assail the New York transit system, but Porcupine hopes that all of you with blogs will take the time to visit Mr. Rowe’s site and learn about a single special individual.

It is important for us all to remember, both in London and here, that each person killed got up that morning, got dressed, headed out – and was killed, ending a unique life story and bringing tragedy to a clear, blue day. There but for the grace of God might have been any one of us, and we should do what we can to remember The 2,996.