9/11
9/11 was yesterday, as I'm sure you all know. I would've posted this then if my stupid internet hadn't gone out for some unknown reason. Yesterday was like any other day for me, nothing happened. It was calm, quiet. Peaceful. Nothing of interest happened. Which is weird, because whenever I think back to 9/11, my first thought is that all 9/11's are supposed to be as hectic as that day.
I live in Louisville, Kentucky, so I didn't personally see the bodies flying out of windows, or the smoke filling the sky. But I was 7 years old, and remember everything about that day. I remember waking up at my step grandma's house, confused and wondering why I was there and not at school, and wandering down into the living room. Everyone- my uncles and aunts, grandparents, dad and stepmom, cousins- was crowded into her small sun room staring at the tiny tv. My grandma was sitting in one of her squeaky chairs and leaning forward, and everyone else was leaning over her.
I wandered into that room just in time to see one of the towers fall. I didn't see the plane that crashed into it, just the gut wrenching image of the tower collapsing. I didn't think it was real. I thought it was a movie.
I asked what they were watching and they told me. It didn't faze me much, I didn't think about all the people dying at first. I just wanted to know why I wasn't at school. I wandered back into the living room and laid under the coffee table (it was my favorite place to be then) and continued to watch the tv in there. Eventually everyone wandered back inside and watched the news in there, with me under the coffee table, and only when they started talking about the thousands of victims did I realize just what was going on.
It was a very dark day, figurtively speaking. In reality, it was bright and sunny and a very nice day outside. I remember that the next day at school, my friends told me that they got to watch te news on the school tvs. There was no teaching that day, just solemn staring while the kids tried to stay occupied.
Now, when I think about it, my thoughts are immediately connected to the war that sprung from the ashes of the towers. Of how stupid this war is, and how we need to bring our troops and families back to us. So many people died on that day, we don't need to lose any more. The men in women in Iraq are dying for 9/11, and they don't need to. They're fighting to keep our country safe and secure of their own free will. They're risking their lives to make sure ours are peaceful.
We take for granted alot of what we have. We don't think about the firemen, and women, or the police officers who watch over us until we need them most. We don't think about the doctors and surgeons who save peoples lives over and over again. It's natural, like we have those things and always will. But at Ground Zero, on 9/11, thousands of those people died trying to save others.
This week, I've heard over and over again how people planned on burning the Kuran or the American Flag, or even the Bible, for 9/11. I've heard many people curse Muslims and say we should kill them all. But in my opinion, all of those peole are friggin' idiots. Why spread the hate? Hate is what got us here in the first place.
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Check out Meg Cabot's 9/11 entry, it's worth reading