Thursday, September 10, 2009

Remembering this day - September 11, 2001

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowlege what this day means to me. I heard someone on a news show today say that people are forgetting where they were when the planes crashed into the Twin Towers. Not possible unless they were in a coma. The day had started off like any other school. Rush, rush to get our youngest son fed and out the door for his short walk to the high school. I had Fox News on, but was too busy to catch the news flash. The phone rang and my dear friend, Mary Kay, asked me if I had seen what had happened. "Get to the TV", she instructed me. As I rushed to see what was happening I saw the second plane hit the tower. I absolutely could not believe what I was seeing. When we experience an historic event, we remember who we were with, what we were doing and where we were. This surpassed President Kennedy's assassination, nightmares that the Viet Cong were at my bedroom window and even remembering back on loved ones who had gone on to their reward. I thought, War of the Worlds! That's it. This was a play on the radio event that scared everyone within range of the radio towers. But it was not. My friend and I connected in horror, shock, grief and even fear. Where were these terrorists planning to attack next? Americans just don't prepare for events such as this. This changed our lives. The innocence was over. A new America was emerging. We are a little wiser, a lot less trusting, a bit sadder. But we've trudged along and demanded to the powers that be, that this shall never happen again.
I am sad to think of the people who lost their lives. Among them was certainly someone who had the answer as to how to solve world hunger. Someone else knew how to stop child abuse. Another person knew how to prevent and cure cancer. We lost the very people who could have made life better for the whole world. I am sad for their families and their friends. Their hearts will never stop aching.
We will keep going. We have learned to stand tall, pay closer attention to the world issues and governments and prayed like never before for peace.
God Bless America.

3 comments:

Laura said...

What an amazing post Miss Karen. We do all remember, don't we?

That was 2 weeks before Heather's wedding.

Laura

Jennifer said...

I had just dropped my fourth graders off at music class, and I happened to walk through the front office where they had a tv on. I immediately calculated John's flight times and realized he would be right of NYC at that time (he was on his way to Connecticut), and the news wasn't saying what airline at that point. I don't think I was totally present when I picked up my kids- they immediately knew something was wrong and were amazingly sweet. As I continued to teach, I saw online that John's flight was diverted to DC (what? DC?!). A little while later, it was diverted to Virginia Beach. Scary day.

Nancy's Notes said...

Thanks for sharing your memories of that unforgettable day. My reactions to 9/11 included shock and sorrow, I experienced 9/11 the same way you did and almost all Americans did — on TV. We were having breakfast and Mike was about to leave for his office and then, the unthinkable happened. I'll never forget seeing Mike so upset, his beloved New York City....part of his heart is always there. I'll never forget that moment, the magnitude of such horror, I'll never forget the heroes that were created on that day, American heroes live everywhere and still do. Oh my, I'll never forget being so worried about John! Mike is in there now, watching the memorials, he is still full of so much emotion... I think as a nation, we all are.