I can't remember exactly what I was doing during the 9/11 attacks. I feel a little guilty for it as I've read the progressing stream of status updates on Facebook and Twitter of people talking about where they were and how they felt because I can't quite remember for myself. At least not as much as I would like to.
I'm from a small town, and I'll be honest with you. I didn't know what the World Trade Center was at the time and I was only vaguely familiar with what the Pentagon was. I was distanced from the devastation. Again, I was IGNORANT about the situation.
I know I was in high school. I was afraid, and I wanted to get home to my loved ones and I was selfishly glad that I was sheltered away from the tragedy. I was lucky enough to not know anybody hurt in those attacks. But I feared that the attacks wouldn't stop there. What if for some reason Atlanta was attacked? I remember freaking out because I thought the future was going to be filled with war. And though it has been since then, the war in my mind was far different than what it is in reality.
As I'm older, I feel more remorse now than I did. After moving to Atlanta, I know people who have truly been affected by the World Trade Center attacks first hand. I can't even imagine the hurt.
It's interesting to see how people respond during this time of remembrance. Everyone in America was affected by this tragedy and everyone has delt with it and experienced it differently.
My husband is a 6th grade teacher. It was strange listening to him tell me about their reactions. Many of them did not know that these tragedies occurred. When he showed them a video about the coverage of the attacks, some of them laughed as they watched people run for their lives.
I'm curious: Is that their response to the tragedy a form of grieving, or are they really that cold-hearted?
I remember how I loved studying history. I thought it was incredible what the people of the past have endured. When I was young I couldn't imagine what it was like to live during the Great Depression. I thought that studying the Holocaust was like reading a horror novel. Never in my life would I think that I would live to experience great tragedies first hand. Being sheltered, I thought that those sorts of things couldn't really happen, even if they already did.
A lot has happened this past decade, including the capture and death of Osama Bin Laden. I pray that those who have suffered losses during 9/11 are starting to feel some closure for that if they haven't already.
That's a very thoughtful post and on the 10-year anniversary.
ReplyDeleteI remember what I was doing. I was babysitting my precious granddaughter who was born in January of 2001. My daughter called me, and on TV I saw the 2nd plane hit the second tower. And the implosion of the two towers. It was unbelievable! I still can't comprehend why people can be so evil as to do that.
So many things have changed since then. Back then, they wouldn't have kept people from having someone lead prayers at the anniversary ceremonies. Back then the atheists wouldn't have fought to keep the metal cross found in the wreckage among mangled bodies from being installed at the memorial site.
I've come much later than you to be interested in politics. I used to think politics was a man's job, but I don't anymore. As my brother said recently, "Let's give a woman a chance at being President. After all, the men haven't done a very good job of it."
I agree, after all there have been very successful women at the helm, so to speak, in other countries. My favorite is Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain and a contemporary and friend of Ronald Reagan.
The two of them, respectively, saved their countries from total economic failure. Thatcher was know as the Iron Lady because she turned her country away from Keynesian socialism back to a free market economy. She knew what to do and she stuck to her guns. Some tried to get her to turn back to Keynesianism, and she said "Turn if you like, but the lady's not for turning.