September 11th, 2011
Exactly 10 years ago, I sat in a classroom and watched on TV as a plane flew into the the twin towers, listened as the newscasters speculated on who and why, watched as the towers fell, as survivors ran out and heroes ran in. It was as I understand the the worst terrorist attack on US soil, almost 3000 people died as a result. I cried that day for people I did not know, I cried again today as I have on many days in between.
It is kind of odd to me that we as a country decided to sum up this attack not with a description but with the date. It's almost as if we were so shocked, so broken on this day that the concept of "September 11th" meaning anything other than tragedy was incomprehensible. But it does. It's someone's anniversary, it's another person's birthday and a million other small things that make up life. It is a hard day. Ten years later it still hurts to remember (and we do remember even though some criticize that not enough of us show it). I will cry, I will remember, but I will not stop living my life. I will not stop traveling, working, making friends, embracing differences with understanding, I will not be afraid of life. The goal of a terrorist attack is not to kill strictly speaking, it is as the name suggests to strike fear in the hearts of the enemy, to force them to abandon their way of life, it is as much a psychological attack as a physical one and while I won't be foolish, while I won't disregard safety I will not let them have that satisfaction and I will not do that to the people who lost their lives. I will never forgot that from that day on there were people who never got to see their children grow up, never got to hug their loved ones again, never got another chance to laugh, or to say "I love you". I believe that if we could speak to the dead they would ask to not be forgotten, they would ask that we still show how much we love them but they would not ask for us to stop living. That's it I'm going to get off my soap box now. If I have offended you in any way with my thoughts on this matter I do apologize.
It is kind of odd to me that we as a country decided to sum up this attack not with a description but with the date. It's almost as if we were so shocked, so broken on this day that the concept of "September 11th" meaning anything other than tragedy was incomprehensible. But it does. It's someone's anniversary, it's another person's birthday and a million other small things that make up life. It is a hard day. Ten years later it still hurts to remember (and we do remember even though some criticize that not enough of us show it). I will cry, I will remember, but I will not stop living my life. I will not stop traveling, working, making friends, embracing differences with understanding, I will not be afraid of life. The goal of a terrorist attack is not to kill strictly speaking, it is as the name suggests to strike fear in the hearts of the enemy, to force them to abandon their way of life, it is as much a psychological attack as a physical one and while I won't be foolish, while I won't disregard safety I will not let them have that satisfaction and I will not do that to the people who lost their lives. I will never forgot that from that day on there were people who never got to see their children grow up, never got to hug their loved ones again, never got another chance to laugh, or to say "I love you". I believe that if we could speak to the dead they would ask to not be forgotten, they would ask that we still show how much we love them but they would not ask for us to stop living. That's it I'm going to get off my soap box now. If I have offended you in any way with my thoughts on this matter I do apologize.