In Remembrance

Disclaimer:  I know everyone is posting about the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  Please give me the courtesy of doing the same.

As I waited for the yellow school bus to pick me up for one of my first days in 8th grade, my neighbor shared with me the news of one of the World Trade Center towers being hit by a plane.  We both wrote it off as an accident, "no big deal", and we boarded the bus.

By the time first period started the morning of September 11, 2001, all of the students sat in awe at the havoc taking place on the television screens.  Before us we saw smoke billowing out of the two towers and Pentagon, as well as a field in Pennsylvania.  We saw replay after replay of the two planes dive-bombing into the towers, and later we watched as terrified citizens jumped from the upper stories.  Eventually, the first tower came crashing down, creating an avalanche of dust and debris.  The second tower soon followed suit, creating the same chaos as the first.

At lunch that afternoon, the sky was emptied of airplanes.  It was clear, quiet, and beautiful.

I remember the fear and uncertainty I felt that day.  I still feel it, too.  I remember thinking "What's going on?"  "Who are these people?"  "Why do they want to hurt and kill innocent people?"  I still ask those same questions today. I remember the tears streaming down my face for many, many reasons. 

But I also remember the unity as well as the outpouring of love and service due to those horrific attacks.  I remember being in awe of the men and women who risked their lives to save others, many losing their own.  I learned of true faith and selflessness.  I remember being grateful that my father was not working in New York that week, being grateful that I had not personally been affected by the attacks.  I remember laying in bed that night listening to Enrique Iglesias' "Hero" with clips of the attacks embedded into the music.

 My life was changed.  Not in a way I would have liked or planned, but in a way that I needed.  And for this, I am grateful.