9.11
5 years. How much our lives, my life has changed. I have been through a divorce, a couple moves, a new love, new babies. My own home. I got a cat. My daughters are in junior high and middle school. I have owned 6 vehicles. I have gone from conservative Republican to raving liberal. I was working as a per diem switchboard operator. I have grown and cut my hair numerous times. I have dyed said hair from red to black to various shades of auburn.
I went from loving my President to feeling the bile seep up into my throat at his very picture. I have prayed nights on end that my boyfriend would not have to leave the US and fight in the war.
I have tucked my babies to sleep and hugged my daughters.
Nearly 3,000 people didn't get to do any of these things. I think about them today. I don't think about the White House or elections or W or Cheney or Rumsfeld. This isn't their day. This day belongs to the families and the citizens who watched live on television the world change. We watched the world reverse itself and we knew without exception that it would never be the same again. We watched firemen and police officers and ordinary people do amazing things for their fellow Americans. Men and women ran into burning buildings to save complete strangers. United 93 crashed their own plane rather see the terrorists reach their destination.
These are the things I think about today.
Never again will we be the free-spirited America. Never again will we go to sleep under that safety blanket of protection that we had all trusted and believed in. The sound of an airplane flying overhead will never again just be an airplane. We won't look at our firefighters or military with the same eyes.
We are a nation changed, and therefore we are families who are changed. We will not be able to tell our children, "Not here. Not in America. Nothing bad happens here - those wars are far away."
I wonder how we'll tell our children about Before 9.11.01. I wonder what words we'll use to try to explain what the world was like before we had to wait in security lines at the airport. How do you put into words that we were FREE in mind, body and spirit. We were BRAZEN faced. We were proud. We loved being Americans.
Maybe we won't be the same as we were. But perhaps, as we look back today and remember where we were on that day, we can get a little back. Maybe we need to start holding our chins a little higher. Maybe we need to believe in Americans even if we can't believe in our leadership.
I went from loving my President to feeling the bile seep up into my throat at his very picture. I have prayed nights on end that my boyfriend would not have to leave the US and fight in the war.
I have tucked my babies to sleep and hugged my daughters.
Nearly 3,000 people didn't get to do any of these things. I think about them today. I don't think about the White House or elections or W or Cheney or Rumsfeld. This isn't their day. This day belongs to the families and the citizens who watched live on television the world change. We watched the world reverse itself and we knew without exception that it would never be the same again. We watched firemen and police officers and ordinary people do amazing things for their fellow Americans. Men and women ran into burning buildings to save complete strangers. United 93 crashed their own plane rather see the terrorists reach their destination.
These are the things I think about today.
Never again will we be the free-spirited America. Never again will we go to sleep under that safety blanket of protection that we had all trusted and believed in. The sound of an airplane flying overhead will never again just be an airplane. We won't look at our firefighters or military with the same eyes.
We are a nation changed, and therefore we are families who are changed. We will not be able to tell our children, "Not here. Not in America. Nothing bad happens here - those wars are far away."
I wonder how we'll tell our children about Before 9.11.01. I wonder what words we'll use to try to explain what the world was like before we had to wait in security lines at the airport. How do you put into words that we were FREE in mind, body and spirit. We were BRAZEN faced. We were proud. We loved being Americans.
Maybe we won't be the same as we were. But perhaps, as we look back today and remember where we were on that day, we can get a little back. Maybe we need to start holding our chins a little higher. Maybe we need to believe in Americans even if we can't believe in our leadership.
great post!!!!
ReplyDeletei think you should send it to the Republican...
ReplyDelete