I have a love/hate relationship with all the 9/11 memorialization that goes on every year here in the United States; as with most very public group mourning events, I think there is power in sharing our grief, but there is also far too much overblown sensationalism surrounding it and cheapening it. Double edged sword, I know.

But a recent column by award-winning journalist LZ Granderson at CNN captured my attention, because he personalized what is overwhelming to us; he looked at what it means to have a last chance, that one moment you will never forget where you say goodbye to your loved one for the last time when you don’t know it is the last time. Instead of grandstanding the grief, he took a moment to say, “every moment is precious.”

If there is a universal lesson to grief (debatable, but I like the idea anyway), then it is just what Granderson reminds us:

Hug your loved ones while you can.

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