Ten Years ago...one terrible, nightmarish journey. September 11, 2011. A day wrought in tragedy and death. Can anything good come of it?
September 11, 2011 a little after 9 AM. It had become a usual routine for me to do some work before turning on the TODAY show and eating my breakfast around 9 AM. Today was no different. I had just done some cleaning , we were going to have a friend come over in the afternoon to look at my husband's computer. I settled down as usual in my chair with a bowl of Raisin Bran. The TODAY team had just joked about something. Then Katie Couric came on to say that there was an incident at the World Trade Center. A small commuter plane had hit it, they were saying, and switched live to the scene. I sat there eating my cereal, thinking what a terrible thing to have happen once again (I recalled the bombing there about seven years back). I told my son who was in the back getting ready for school to come see the burning building. As I was watching this live, I saw a huge jetliner careen across the screen and into the second World Trade Center building, followed by a tremendous fireball. I nearly dropped my bowl but managed to put it on the table. This was history unfolding before his eyes and mine. I knew we were under attack and a terrible event was happening. And it went on for hours. More planes. More explosions. Buildings collapsing. The innocent dying. It was an event from hell.
My parents used to talk about the Day of Infamy when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. They were kids back then. I had been to the Arizona memorial in Hawaii and was moved. But I never thought I would witness an attack in my lifetime. Until September 11, 2001 when our own airplanes and US citizens were used against us. It was a horrifying thing.
What good can possible come from something so awful? I do know that for the first time, everything stopped. No one cared about money or politics. People came together and prayed. People hung the flag, put it on their cars instead of college alma maters, burned candles, sung patriotic songs. USA shirts and hats were worn everywhere and were hot ticket items. People were Americans. We grieved as a nation. We were family.
Dear God, I pray nothing like this will have to happen again to make us realize who we are as a nation - one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
What were you doing on 9/11, and how did it affect you?
2 comments:
I agree never thought I would see something like this happen. Its not just America remembering people from around the world were remembering with you. We Aussies lost 10 people in the attacks and many other countries also lost people which makes this a global anniversary. I dont know if Americans realise how much this affected others but it did affect us here too. We thought of you all today.
I too saw the memorial at Pearl Harbour and it really is moving.
Thanks so much for your comment.
Post a Comment