remembrance
I was just settling in to my first period US history class on the second day of my sophomore year at xaverian when the announcement came over the PA that there was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York and that our prayers go out to the victims and there families, that was it no details, nothing about plains, nothing about Osama Bin Laden, and then it was back to my first history class of the year. It wasn’t until lunch when I, along with the rest of America, forced my way onto one of the gridlocked news servers and the full scale of the attack, and the loss, started to reveal itself. I remember vividly the first time I saw the video of the plain hitting the tower, and the eventual collapse, I had snuck a peak at the TV in the computer control room that the vice principle had tuned into the NBC broadcast before I was shooed away, but it was too late the image was burned into my memory for the rest of my life…
Here we are 6 years later and the world is a different place, the war in Iraq is still going, and Osama is still on the loose, but when I look back on that time 6 years ago, I don’t remember the faces of the terrorists plastered all over the TV and the News Papers, I don’t remember George Bush and his lack of competence. I remember the fire fighters refusing to be turned away from Ground Zero and breaking the barricades that feebly attempted to turn them away, I remember the wall of the lost where families who wanted nothing but to find their fathers, mothers, sister s, brothers, husbands and wives all came together to share in there hope and eventually loss, I remember the fund raisers in every corner of the nation where everyone gave all that they could. I remember the faces of the rescue workers covered in soot and debris, visibly exhausted, refusing to give up Hope…
Hope is a wondrous thing, it can make people Climb Mountains and cross oceans, and it is one of the greatest gifts that our creator, whatever its name is, gave us, and as people migrate towards the Status Quo that hope deep down will always be there, and the time where we as a nation came together to remember the good times and hurt for the loss we shared will be forever etched into each and every one of us.
On this day six years ago 2974 people cried out for the last time, and there stories ended, let us who survived do everything we can to keep their memories alive and refuse to let those men women and children have died in vain by refusing to accept what is easy and striving to do good. Today is a day that we should celebrate as well as grieve; celebrate the good will in each and every one of us, and how we as a nation showed our true colors during the greatest tragedy we as a nation have ever been asked to endure. I can’t tell you what tomorrow brings, I can only tell you what yesterday brought, and it brought hope that no matter what tomorrow has in store for us we will get threw it together. So call your mother, e-mail your father, IM your sister, Text your brother and tell them you love them, and if you can, give them a hug and let them know how special they are, and that you will always be there for them.
Here we are 6 years later and the world is a different place, the war in Iraq is still going, and Osama is still on the loose, but when I look back on that time 6 years ago, I don’t remember the faces of the terrorists plastered all over the TV and the News Papers, I don’t remember George Bush and his lack of competence. I remember the fire fighters refusing to be turned away from Ground Zero and breaking the barricades that feebly attempted to turn them away, I remember the wall of the lost where families who wanted nothing but to find their fathers, mothers, sister s, brothers, husbands and wives all came together to share in there hope and eventually loss, I remember the fund raisers in every corner of the nation where everyone gave all that they could. I remember the faces of the rescue workers covered in soot and debris, visibly exhausted, refusing to give up Hope…
Hope is a wondrous thing, it can make people Climb Mountains and cross oceans, and it is one of the greatest gifts that our creator, whatever its name is, gave us, and as people migrate towards the Status Quo that hope deep down will always be there, and the time where we as a nation came together to remember the good times and hurt for the loss we shared will be forever etched into each and every one of us.
On this day six years ago 2974 people cried out for the last time, and there stories ended, let us who survived do everything we can to keep their memories alive and refuse to let those men women and children have died in vain by refusing to accept what is easy and striving to do good. Today is a day that we should celebrate as well as grieve; celebrate the good will in each and every one of us, and how we as a nation showed our true colors during the greatest tragedy we as a nation have ever been asked to endure. I can’t tell you what tomorrow brings, I can only tell you what yesterday brought, and it brought hope that no matter what tomorrow has in store for us we will get threw it together. So call your mother, e-mail your father, IM your sister, Text your brother and tell them you love them, and if you can, give them a hug and let them know how special they are, and that you will always be there for them.