September 11, 2008
Remembering 9/11 like it was yesterday, tonight I sat and watched 102 Minutes That Changed The World on the History Channel, alone. My family sleeping, I sat in front of my TV with my jaw as open as it was that day. Most reading this will remember what they were doing that day. How you first heard. The fear of the unknown. The first person you called to see if they were OK.
I cried once again watching the pure shock on people’s faces, the police and firefighters, running into those buildings not knowing their horrific fate. The heroes of that day. As time goes on and we go about our daily lives, many of us forget these men and women put there lives on the line for our safety everyday. Firefighters, police, our military; strangers helping strangers.
There have been many documentaries since 9/11/2001. Hollywood has even tried to depict the tragedy, surely too soon for most of us. 102 Minutes That Changed The World, for some reason, was different. Maybe the raw footage put together in real time, maybe the feeling of being so close to what New Yorkers experienced that day, some of the toughest people you will ever meet, crying silently not knowing what to do or where to go.
Or maybe the fact that today I am a Mother, I was not back in 2001, and I cannot help but wonder what the world holds for my son and that is the scariest and saddest feeling I have ever had. And the irony of that statement is that at the end of 102 Minutes they showed a child, in all of her innocence say that the World Trade Center is gone while watching from her window as the second tower collapsed.
I remember the unity of our country in the days and months that followed, there was an American Flag flying from almost every neighbor’s house, in every neighborhood. Today I look around and it just seems people have forgotten how vulnerable we are as a country, how vulnerable we are as human beings in such a violent world..
Even the little things we do mean something to someone. I have to wonder why it usually takes something bad to bring people together and why do people only come together for a short time? What happened on 9/11 angers me as much as it saddens and scares me. We can’t just turn our TV’s off with the hope that it will all go away.
Thank you to the police, the firefighters, our military and all of those who live to protect us risking their lives every day. And never forget those who perished on September 11, 2001.