By delayed I mean 5 years, not just 3 days. It occurred to me this year, as I was watching the news Monday night, crying my eyes out, that I have never taken the time to reflect on September 11, 2001. I had certainly never cried about it. But this year, as I sat in my apartment, not 5 miles from thousands of people who lost loved ones, I finally realized how much there is to cry about.
To start off, we all have a story of September 11, 2001, and mine is no more interesting than most, but its worth sharing. In the Fall of 2001, I was in my first semester of college. Of course this means that I had plenty of 8am classes in my schedule and I was seated in one taught by one of my very favorite professors of all time, Brian Griffith. Brian was probably talking about psychosocial development or something similarly stimulating when Beth Arnold peeked her head in the door and told Brian that something had happened and he may want to stop class to find out more. He politely thanked her for the information and carried on. A few minutes later she returned and asserted her authority as a higher-level professor and instructed Brian to zip it and turn on the T.V. Doesn't the day become a blur then for you too? I remember people immediately picking up cell phones, other people starting to cry, and I remember walking back to my dorm room in a daze. Of course I called my family and told them I was safe. Then I watch T.V. all day and went to my math class.
Really, I don't know that what happened actually sunk in. I think it's still sinking in for me, but being in New York on September is just a completely different experience than it is anywhere else. I drove into the city with Taylor Monday morning and there were flags across the GW Bridge, flags all throughout Times' Square, and flags in everyone's windows. The news covered nothing but stories of people who had lost loved ones. One town in New Jersey lost 37 out of just a few thousant residents. It really his heartbreaking to be surrounded by such grief. And its troubling to know taht there are people in the world capable of these types of things. Evil beyond what I could ever imagine is out there, and I'm not talking about a certian race or religion. Be that as it may, it is truly terrifying, not in a paranoid sense, but in the a realistic sense to know that there are people out there who would commit the same acts again if they could. Again, I'm not trying to get political, I am just realizing for the first time, after being in New York on September 11, that none of us exist in a bubble. These things can happen anywhere, at any time, and it is so important to love and appreciate the people you have and the things you have right now, because not everyone is so lucky.
My heart, my thoughts, and my prayers are with everyone who lost someone they loev on September 11, 2001. May I always remember how lucky I am to have the people I love just a plane, train, or bus ride away.
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