Today is September 12, 2010. Nine years ago I was heading to class after one of the most memorable and disturbing days in my generation's history. It is the day after 9/11.
9/11 was still fresh in our minds. We all had this fear that there was going to be another attack, it was just a matter of where, and how they could think of destroying our spirit even further. Things were just a pile of dirt and ash. It has been compared to Pearl Harbor.
Everyone will forever remember that day. It is like the day Kennedy was shot. It is like the day MLK Jr. was shot. It is like the day that will live in infamy. Until this day my generation had nothing to go off of as a frame of memorable moments in our lives. We had MTV telling us what the cool things to do and how to live our lives. We had a president who did not win the election, and was not as time has told a competent leader. There was an agenda it seemed he was almost giddy at the thought of this devastation.
I am not here to get into a political argument or to try and put blame on the government for this happening. I am trying to understand how one of the most powerful governments in the world could allow this to happen to their own citizens.
I will never forget the moments of that day. I will never forget driving my sister to school. I was a senior and she was a sophomore. We were sitting in my Honda accord, two weeks into the school year listening to Mix 94.1 Mark and Mercedes in the morning. There was no music playing we were putting the last finishing touches of our make-up on. I turned it up and it was Mark's voice coming across the radio. The words are not exact, but I do recall "A plane has just hit the North tower of the World Trade Center, we just got this news and please stand by, as we try to find out more. It seems New York is in a state of panic, we will have more information soon." I called my mother, she was going to our house in Newport beach that day. I told her to turn on the news and see what was going on, Mark and Mercedes just said a plane hit one of the Twin towers, I don't think you should fly today. "No way that cannot be possible, no can fly a plane into the towers, this cannot be right. I am going to fly down to Newport. OH MY GOD!" She shouted over the phone. I asked what happened she said another plane hit the other tower. "Do you guys want to come home?"
"No, we should go to school today, we don't know what is going on and whoever did this will win if we just go home. We are going to sit through classes and we will be alright. I have my phone and I can get Chrissy if something else goes wrong. Just call me later. Please don't fly."
I recall sitting in my first period English class. My teacher found a TV, and put on the news. The images of the burning towers was embellished on my brain forever. The replay of the second plane hitting was horrifying. We all watched as the tower started to fall. My teacher started crying, I could not believe it. How could things this big fall? What is going on in the world, why would someone do this? It was my senior year, we were supposed to be thinking about the last of our high school days, not the fact we were just attacked. My trip from my parents was supposed to be a trip to New York. Is it really going to happen now, will people fly again? Questions running through my brain, the major was why.
June of 2002, we went to the big apple. We got off the flight and checked into the Plaza hotel. It was the Plaza, a NY classic. People were kind and there was a sadness behind their eyes, but they were pulling through. That day we got there we went on a double-decker bus tour. A stop was the towers, now known as Ground Zero. My mother couldn't look, there was dust blowing all over the place. You could breathe it in and it stung your eyes. I looked, the wreckage of the day was still present, signs were all over the place with people's wishes of well for the lives lost on that day. The picture of the frame we all see, was forever burned in to my brain. It was there still and they were finally starting to work on moving all of the wreckage of the day away. It was a random empty spot of dirt, ashes, and rubble amongst more buildings. I realized it wasn't dirt that was blowing around. It was ashes. The ashes of the years of the building standing there, the ashes of the planes, and the ashes of the lives lost. Ashes of moms and dads who were going to work that day. Ashes of the firemen who were doing their duty and trying to stop the fires. Ashes of the people who believed in their ultimate salvation was through this act of terror. My eyes watered from it all, and the grit was in my mouth, like when you were a little kid who just fell off the swings, and there were still little granules of sand crunching in your teeth.
It was like I was apart of it now. I still cannot believe the hatred that has come from that day. Instead of growing from it, people used it to their advantage. Now we were no different from the terrorist who did this, now we hate just as much as they did. Life has not been the same and never will be. We have become the terrorist, we no longer trust our brothers, and the government no longer trusts its citizens. Now we hate people who are Muslim, and we think they should not have any rights, because they all must be terrorist. Remember Christianity, they created a Jihad against us, but we are not them we should be stronger than that. Revenge is not golden it just takes away your insides and makes you thirsty for more, it turns you into a terrorist. It turns your heart black.
America needs to stop hating, and there needs to be some understanding in all of this. Never forget that day, hold it in your heart, but remember we have hearts to hold and the heart should be thankful we are alive and able to still be here to love. Do unto others as you want done to you. The golden rule. Even Jesus would love the people who hated him, because not all people are bad the just do not know what they do. On this day the day after 9/11 remember to love each other and be thankful it was not you there that day. You were given the gift of 9/12...
