I'm watching the live September 11th ceremony on tv right now, and I still can't believe that it's been ten years since the attack. I can't believe that, after all these years, the emotions are still there and still so strong and so raw. Someone said a few days ago that, for my generation, this will be like the day JFK was assassinated in that we will all remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we got the news of the attack.
On September 11, 2001 I was a senior in high school. I was sitting with my friends in my Journalism class and our teacher had the classroom television on. We saw the first plane hit the north tower of the World Trade Center and I remember being confused and wondering if this was a movie. Then the newscasters began speculating that a small aircraft had accidentally flown into the tower. I remember a few of my classmates making jokes about how stupid the person flying that plane must have been to not have seen a tower so tall. A few minutes later, when the second plane struck the south tower, things erupted. Our teacher shushed all of us students and the classroom fell into absolute and deafening silence while the newscasters began reporting what we were seeing. I kept hearing, "That was no accident, we're under attack!"
A lot of my memory of that day is fuzzy. I was 17 years old and didn't fully grasp the magnitude and the importance of what was happening at that moment. I remember leaving school early, calling my boyfriend from the school parking lot to try and figure out what was going on. I remember being at home with my mom and watching the coverage on tv. It didn't matter that day what channel you turned on--every station was covering the attack. I distinctly remember seeing the smoke and the flames coming from the towers. I can still see the large dark specks falling from the sky and I can hear my mom saying, "Oh my God, those are people...they're JUMPING out the windows." It was horrifying. All these years later, the picture of those people jumping is still burned into my brain.
More news was coming in every minute, and we learned that another plane had struck the Pentagon. That yet another plane had crashed when the passengers fought their hijackers and refused to allow them to win. That both the north and the south towers of the World Trade Center had fallen. In a matter of hours, everything changed for us. In all, more than 2,900 Americans died that day.
Ten years later, we are still rebuilding at ground zero. The New York City skyline is completely changed. We still gather every year to honor those who lost their lives on September 11, 2001. We now have a new memorial to commemorate the lives lost.
Right now, I'm watching the reading of the names of those people who died that day. I'm listening to their family members tell short anecdotes and say goodbye yet again. I hear the sadness in their voices and I see the raw grief on their faces that hasn't faded, even after ten years, and I honestly cannot imagine what it must have been like to lose someone close to me that day. Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles...the sheer number of people who were affected that day and every day since is astounding. Hearing some of their stories affects me in a visceral way and I feel their loss and their grief very deeply.
As with all things these days, I wonder how I'll explain this to Bailey when she's old enough to understand and ask questions about it. I wonder if it will affect her the way it's affected me or if, to her, it will be a somewhat distant part of the past. Something that happened long before she was born, much like the assassination of JFK for me. I hope that I can explain it to her in a way that honors the memory of those who fought and died that day. I hope I'm able to convey the importance of that day to her, that I can talk to her about it without making her fearful or timid.
Ten years ago, our country was devastated. It seemed an almost impossible feat from which to recover. Today, ten years later, it's still devastating. But we're rebuilding. We continue to honor those who perished that day. We continue to wave our flags and to feel pride in our country. And we'll continue to do this for as long as it takes.
-- President George W. Bush, December 11, 2001"Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It's a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. It's 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."
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