Nineteen years ago yesterday morning, a hijacked plane crashed into each of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Thirty-five minutes later, a third plane struck the Pentagon. Passengers aboard the fourth hijacked aircraft overpowered their hijackers, resulting in the plane crashing in a field in Pennsylvania.
Nearly three thousand people lost their lives.
September 11, 2001 was ruled the date of the deadliest terrorist attack in World History.
The peace America had known was shattered, and a heartbroken nation swore they would never forget the tragic day.
In preparation of writing this, I dug into the events of 9/11 in a way I hadn't before. I googled newspaper headlines from that day and the day after. I listened to recordings of phone calls made that day, many of which were goodbye calls victims made to family members. I read quotes from survivors and witnesses, one of which described the scene at ground zero as "complete chaos and utter hell." And I shed more than a few tears.
One thing that struck me deeply was the similarities between so many messages sent or relayed to family members during a victims last moments. There was no arguments or strife or meaningless comments.
It was "I love you" and "I'm so sorry" and "kiss the kids for me" and "I'll see you on the other side" and "don't grieve too much for me, but live a full life."
Because those are the words that really matter.
Instead of looking so much at the events, the evil behind it, and the aftermath, I looked at the people. And I saw Americans.
We are Americans.
before we're left or right
before we're right or wrong
before we're republican or democrat
before we're black or white
before we're northern or southern
We are Americans.
Americans take care of their neighbors and stand up for their country.
Americans stand for the flag with their hand over their heart.
We are Americans.
And it's time we started acting like it.
"9/11 showed us what human beings are capable of. The evil, yeah, sure. But it also brought out the goodness we forgot could exist. People taking care of each other for no other reason than it was the right thing to do. It's important for us to talk about that good, to remember. 'Cause I saw all of it that day."
My challenge to you and to myself?
Live like every day is 9/12.
Be so stinkin' proud of your country that it swells up instead you until you can hardly breathe.
God hasn't given up on America. And we can't either.
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| These other lovely ladies are sharing tribute posts as well! |
(Yes, this post is late. Apparently that's what happens when you combine homework overload + several long work days in a row + internet outages. Who knew? xD
