Has it really been nine years?

Has it really been nine years?


It has been nine years since that day, and it is still so fresh in my mind; September 11th, 2001... the day the world changed. How well do you remember that day? It was only a few days after I was released from the hospital. I had just gone through a surgery to get a malignant tumor removed from my right brachial plexus, so I was in a lot of pain; I had lost almost all function of my right hand, and was under tons of pain meds. I was lying down on the sofa watching the news in the den, following the Chandra Levy case, then they cut to a commercial break on CNN, and got to the frequently shown Ditech advertisement. Then, all of the sudden, the commercial is interrupted and they show that a plane had crashed into one of the Twin Towers. I did not know what to think. I was half-subdued by the meds, so I was like, "Wai..wh-WHAT?" It was a clear, beautiful morning and someone crashes into a tall building? I guess many people thought the first crash was an accident. However, after the second plane hit, I realized something was definitely going on here. Then there was the Pentagon attack and all these reports of major federal buildings in Washington being evacuated. I was shocked...we were under attack. The US was being attacked on its own ****ing land. This was not some foreign battlefield; it was right in New York City. Then the towers collapsed. It was the scariest thing ever. My mom and I thought the death toll would be in the tens of thousands. Her friend's brother worked in the World Trade Center, and he was one of the victims who died there. After all that, they report the crash of Flight 93, which went down minutes before the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The attacks inspired a patriotism and love for this country that I never knew I had. When passing the American flags, I never realized how beautiful it looked flying in the wind. I remember the unity everyone felt. Left, right, center, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Middle-Eastern, Christian, Jews, Atheists, Muslims, etc...it all did not matter in the subsequent months. We were all Americans. I only wish that we could have this unity as a nation again. God bless the victims and their families, my thoughts and prayers go out to you, and God bless the United States of America.

Take the time today to stand for a moment of silence and pray for the victims and their families.