I've been thinking a lot about September 11th. Probably a lot more than normal just because it's been on TV more because it's the 10 year anniversary. Anniversary sounds like too happy of a word. But anniversary it is none the less.
On September 11 2001 I was 14 years old. I was at my high school in Indiana taking a standardized test. Our supervisor announced to us that some teachers felt we shouldn't be given the information because it might mess with our scores...but he felt that it was important to let us know that 2 planes had crashed into the World Trade Center. They thought it was terrorists. I didn't even know what the World Trade Center was.
Flash forward to today. September 11 2011. I have spent the last 2 days watching the news coverage. Dateline, 20/20 etc and feel much more affected by it today than I was then. Probably because I know more about life. I know more about loss and pain. I know more about heartbreak. As I watch the video of the plane deliberately smashing into the first tower...I feel sickness. As I think about how as we watched news coverage of the first plane....in front of our very eyes....live...we saw the second plane hit the second tower. You can hear the screams of disbelief. You can watch the people stunned. The emotions are still palpable. Shortly after that...a plane crashes into the Pentagon....and shortly after that we hear of reports that another plane had been hijacked.
It was very literally the end of the world.
And then as terror is unfolding all around us....the first tower falls. Fear and panic erupt everywhere.
For those watching at home there was nothing to do but watch and wait. Wait for what? Relief? Or more likely...the next attack.
President Bush addressed our nation that night with one of the most beautiful and heartfelt speeches I've ever heard. How he must have felt that day.
In the days following...stories of heroism, as was inevitable in this great country of ours. Strangers become tethered for life. Sharing in the tragedy and helping others the only way they knew how. It wasn't because it was expected of them it was just what needed to be done.
Families lost loved ones. Firefighters, Police Officers, Fathers, Mothers
I think of the people on the planes that day...especially the passengers who so bravely fought and protected this country from an additional attack. As 3 men announce to the passengers they were going to die for their God...those people..through their courage announced that their God died for them. And they would die for their country. Normal everyday people who made an extraordinary sacrifice.
Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. This isn't my first time watching the news coverage...but it is my first time seeing it.
God Bless America. God Bless the lives lost.
President Bush said:
For the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. It's a memory not only of loss and mourning but also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for ...a friend- even a friend whose name it never knew."
-George W. Bush
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