September 11th, the most tragic and memorable day in America as we know it in our lives, where we all can remember where we were and how we reacted. I know I was sleeping (it was 5:48am in Las Vegas) when the phone rang and I was annoyed as to me, yet again a friend from NJ forgot the time difference. I rolled over and let the machine get it (remember it was 2001). I was barely coherent but will never forget the shrill in the voice of my friend telling me to get up and really get up to go to the living room to be sure I was up and turn on the television. After a few yeah, yeah I am up and yeah in my head and searching for the clicker in my bed for the tv in my room, I shuffled to the living room and turned on the tv and then in complete horror watched the 2nd plane go into the 2nd tower.
Life in New York was very different than it was in Las Vegas. I desperately wanted life to stop here as I did not want to leave the house. I was thinking about everyone I knew who worked in the City and everyone that I knew that had family and friends that worked in the City. Here, life went on and not many even talked about it that morning.
As a Nation We Unite
As a nation we pulled together and mourned as for so many of us we knew people or knew families of people that perished. The six degrees of separation become 0 degrees as we all were one. Anger, hate, frustration, fear, sadness and disbelief are only scratching the surface of what we all were feeling. While we can form our own opinions but collectively we can never make reason or even peace with this. The pain was immense but through that pain we, as a nation, found how we can take focus away from the pain and find the most powerful thing we could … each other.
We Remember and Never Forget
Each year for so many of us, September 11 is a day we hear and see on the calendar that we have things to do but yet we stop and think. One day that changed us. It made us stronger and each year we renew that strength within ourselves. While our lives go on and we are into our own lives, we never forget.
photo credit: IronRodArt-Royce Bair-BUSY