Where were you?
That seems to be the question heard in thousands of circles in thousands of places all around the world today. And as history has shown us, this is one of those moments that people alive during that time will always remember.
I was working for New York Life, of all places, in 2001. As most of my appointments were in the afternoon or evenings, I was home the morning of September Eleventh. After hearing the news of the first plane and seeing the growing news coverage, I called a friend who's birthday it was to ask him if he had heard what was happening. To my shock, as I was on the phone with him, I watched the second plane hit the second tower. As expected, all of my appointments cancelled and I spent the rest of the day in front of the television watching with horror.
This morning I watched the 9/11 Memorial Service in New York City, and more than once felt tears well up in eyes. It's still amazing to me after all these years how emotional the events of that day are to me. We live in such a desensitized culture that I wonder if people get the real magnitude that thousands of our fellow Americans died that day, and that over forty percent of those people were never found. Over a thousand families never got adequate closure. Over a thousand mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, never got to say goodbye. I thank God I have faith and hope, and even now I pray to God to comfort those people.
For awhile after 9/11, I struggled with my emotions. Should I care? Haven't we lost more people than that before this? Is this our fault? The reality I came to, is that everyone is going to deal with this their own way. Some cry, some get angry, some are indifferent. I guess all I have to be responsible for is my own feelings. And those feelings are still there for me. Good or bad, right or wrong, I'm still saddened at the loss our country was handed, and for the people who lost someone that day.
So where were you? What are your emotions ten years later?
I was working for New York Life, of all places, in 2001. As most of my appointments were in the afternoon or evenings, I was home the morning of September Eleventh. After hearing the news of the first plane and seeing the growing news coverage, I called a friend who's birthday it was to ask him if he had heard what was happening. To my shock, as I was on the phone with him, I watched the second plane hit the second tower. As expected, all of my appointments cancelled and I spent the rest of the day in front of the television watching with horror.
This morning I watched the 9/11 Memorial Service in New York City, and more than once felt tears well up in eyes. It's still amazing to me after all these years how emotional the events of that day are to me. We live in such a desensitized culture that I wonder if people get the real magnitude that thousands of our fellow Americans died that day, and that over forty percent of those people were never found. Over a thousand families never got adequate closure. Over a thousand mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, never got to say goodbye. I thank God I have faith and hope, and even now I pray to God to comfort those people.
For awhile after 9/11, I struggled with my emotions. Should I care? Haven't we lost more people than that before this? Is this our fault? The reality I came to, is that everyone is going to deal with this their own way. Some cry, some get angry, some are indifferent. I guess all I have to be responsible for is my own feelings. And those feelings are still there for me. Good or bad, right or wrong, I'm still saddened at the loss our country was handed, and for the people who lost someone that day.
So where were you? What are your emotions ten years later?
posted by Sam at 11:05 AM
2 Comments:
I've seen it before, but I just watched the documentary made by the two brothers filming in Ladder 1, and I can't help but be shocked. Watching firefighters hug one another after only minutes before unsure who was alive and who wasn't, hearing the sickening sound of bodies hitting the ground, feeling myself short of breath as the planes hit the towers. I have no words to describe the feelings I have right now. What an intense emotional experience.
I watched that too. I couldn't move from the couch... It was completely breathtaking and I felt the emotion as they went through the events that day. When the tower collapsed and there were in there, and it went pitch black for seconds... wow! I didn't get to see a lot of the coverage back when it happened for certain reasons. So some of this was new to me. That documentary was incredible. I'm really glad they showed it... and I hope they do again every five or ten years. I didn't let Jackson watch it, but some day I would like him to.
As for where I was that day... I was at work, I saw the news report of the first plane, and then as I was watching that live, I saw the other plane hit the 2nd tower. It was unbelievable... and scary, to know that someone was calculated enough to plan all that out. I remember that morning like it was just a few weeks ago. And I still shake my head in disbelief. God be with us all! And if we don't value our time and live for Him and as if today could be our last, then we are just not paying attention... I pray I always live like every moment is the last.
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