Nine Eleven - The Saddest Part

A day none of us will ever forget and will always treat with reverance. Such a beautiful September morning. I still feel like I can't breathe when I think back to that day and what it felt like to watch it unfold in real time. My sister was getting ready to board a plane that morning and I was in a panic to get to her when I saw the second plane hit the towers and knew this wasn't just an accident. Thank goodness all flights were grounded before hers took off. I remember being afraid that the attacks were just going to keep coming. I was glued to the TV all day, which was difficult, because I didn't want my four year-old to see what was going on or to see me crying or feel my fear. I couldn't sleep that night because I was waiting for reports that many survivors had been found under the rubble at Ground Zero. But there were only a few. I was haunted by the images of New Yorkers covered in ash walking like ghosts away from the destruction. Those pictures still make me shudder.

But for me personally, what was so sad about that day, is that in one terrifying instant I realized that my son would never know a world without the very real fear of terrorism here on our soil. The "new normal". As a child, I knew terrorism existed, but not here. Not in my country - not in the greatest city in the world or in our capital city or in a field in the middle of nowhere. In my childhood innocence, I thought the United States was the greatest on Earth and that most everyone respected and appreciated us. I didn't have any reason to think otherwise. But children who are old enough to remember 9/11 won't have that luxury. Today's children will grow up in and raise their children in a world filled with increased security measures, terrorist chatter, and periodic warnings about heightened levels of concern. And they will always have the knowledge that there are people out there who truly hate us and want to hurt us. I guess if that's your normal, it's not that difficult to accept. But it still makes me really sad. President Obama stated very eloquently this morning, "Today, we can honor those we lost by building a nation worthy of their memories." Wouldn't it be wonderful if our nation was always as united as we were in the days and weeks following 9/11? That was a lovely feeling in the midst of all the anger and grief. We should strive for that everyday.

In Loving Memory,