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| towerview baptist's salute to our fallen |
Here in Belleville, IL, the sun was shining bright and the light breeze was refreshing as we gathered around our church's flagpole. The mood was contrastingly somber; we stood still, our heads bowed, and our eyes closed, silently pushing prayers from the deepest depths of our hearts that the survivors, families, and friends of all those directly affected by that defining day would feel some sort of comfort.
Ten years ago today, fathers and mothers went to work. Brothers and sisters, sons and daughters entered into their daily routines likely thinking that Tuesday was just Tuesday, and would consist of nothing more than pushy deadlines, countless emails, demanding labor, or, if they were so lucky, a productive meeting or two. Students went to school, and children went to daycare. Passengers boarded airplanes.
Ten years ago today, the world halted in unison as real-time feeds across the globe honed in on New York's iconic Twin Towers being attacked by enemies of our country. The reports would proceed to show our Pentagon undertaking a devastating blow. The shock stopped a nation dead in its tracks just moments before fear and panic covered us from head to toe.
What just happened?!
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| world trade center |
I remember exactly where I was. On September 11, 2001, I was late for school. I had been in the hospital the night before, following a soccer game during which I was kicked in the throat. It was painful, and I was frustrated at being so inconvenienced. I could nearly taste the intense shame I felt afterwards. I can, to this day, close my eyes and smell the remnants of cleaning solvents in our cafeteria as I walked into the building. I clearly recall the rows and rows of students, teachers, and faculty gathered in our cafeteria. Every television in the room was on. Every television in the entire school was on. I don't need to look up the video feed of what I saw that day in order to remember it. In Mount Vernon, Ohio, miles and miles away from New York City, a high school was frozen. Teachers were crying. Students' cell phones began ringing incessantly as parents at home just need that extra inch of reassurance that their children were all right. The doors were locked. Head counts were taken. Intercom updates came from sad voices trying to sound steady. That was just Mount Vernon, Ohio.
A city was brought to its knees.
Husbands and wives were lost.
Mothers and fathers became single parents.
Brothers and sisters were separated.
Rescue responders made their final calls to duty.
Families were ripped down to their roots.
Teens and tweens around the country would become America's next-in-line front-line uniformed heroes.
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The events that day have been carved in the the heartstone of our existence as a nation. As we watched, helplessly, from our safe homes, schools, and businesses, a city with a crater blown straight through its heart bled. Reel after reel of raw terror, dispair, chaos, and panic panned across screens in slow motion. The footage of the towers collapsing became a burned image in every mind.
However, the miracles bloomed on the heels of the disaster. Rescue responders flooded in from states away. Hospital facilities worked tirelessly. Civilians met their neighbors during search and rescue efforts. Churches rallied together like never before. Millions of people sought God, and through tragedy discovered a healing power greater than anything they'd ever felt before. America held out its hand to pull one of its children back to her feet. She was scarred, bleeding, and devastated, but she stood, and Americans everywhere stood with her. We cried for our brothers and sisters who were lost. We reached out in ways we never thought we could. We readied, as a collective unit, to answer that blow with our own, tenfold.
We fell together.
We prayed together.
We fought together.
We rose together.
We remember together.
Today marks a decade's passing since those thousands of irreplaceable lives were taken from us. I saw a magazine in the grocery store featuring a girl whose father lost his life on that day, before she was even born. It takes everything in me not to become angry when I think of how I would feel, honestly, if my husband's life had been stolen away before his daughter could meet him. I can't imagine it.
Over time, survivors of this event will pass on. Bystanders will pass on. Those of us frozen in Mount Vernon High School on that day will pass on. Our children will have only the graphic story of what happened. Their children will have that in a school book. My fear is that the emotional detachment will cease to be, and that September 11, 2001 will just be another catastrophic event on humankind's rollercoaster of fanatacism, compassion, and unification.
I promise to never forget. I promise to honor the fallen, support those fighting for our freedom, and defend the rights we so often take for granted. For the airplane passengers, the responders, the military, and our nation: I am small, and I am just one, but I am praying.
9/11/2001 - I will remember.
xo |
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