Wednesday, September 11, 2013

September 11, 2001

It was a day like any other.  I'd had a sleepless night, not unusual, so after sending the middle school and high school students out the door, I went back to bed until 11, when I got up to awaken Ryan for Kindergarten.

It was bright and sunny.

My alarm clock/radio was announcing that all state buildings had been evacuated, and Penn State had cancelled classes statewide, but no incidents had been reported.

WHAT?

After preparing Ryan's oatmeal, I turned on the TV to learn that we had been attacked.  The principals of openness and equality which we hold so dear had enabled 19 terrorists to hijack four of our jets and turn them on us.

How to understand this?  And how to explain this to an innocent 5 year old, who might very well hear of this at school?

I told him on the car ride to school that he might hear from others that bad men had stolen airplanes and crashed them.  But here in our little town, we were safe.  All was well.  He could count on that.

And we are.  Air travel is less pleasant, even unpleasant.  But we have remained safe.  And we remain free,  willing to celebrate our commonalities rather than our differences.  This is a solemn day of remembrance, but, like most others, it's a great day in America.

9/11.  We fly our flags.  We will never forget.


9 comments:

Lapdog Creations said...

Great post......... I remember watching the second plane crash into the second tower live on TV. They were covering the first crash when NO ONE expected to see what came next.......

SissySees said...

Powerful post. Land of the free and home of the brave, so very thankfully.

Anonymous said...

Well done, Margie.

monica said...

Amazing how everyone still remembers exactly what they did that day. For us in Europe it was an afternoon shock, typically as we were leaving the offices after a days work, a tuesday as I recall.

I am actually reading a novel(fiction) right now, where one of the charactes lost her fiancee at 9.11 ...

what a terrible,gruesome day.

actually my brother, his wife and their 2 baby twins have recently moved to live in Washington DC for 4 years. And even though terror can happen anywhere anytime, it made me a tad giddy thinking of them being in the US capital city on that particular day...

Blond Duck said...

I was in physics class.

Pam said...

Great post Marjie.

I had been married for three days and was on a cruise ship for my honeymoon. I'll never forget that day for the rest of my life.

Sue said...

A friend in Boston called and woke me. He said to turn on the TV. I did just in time to see the second plane hit. I'll never forget the sights or the feelings.

Two French Bulldogs said...

mom remembers like it was yesterday
Benny & Lily

Rhodesia said...

Great post. There are so many lovely people in this world, I often wonder why there are a few who spoil everything for them. I was in the office in Johannesburg when a client came rushing in with the news that the first tower had gone, soon after we had the news of the second one. Not a good day for the world, everyone will remember. Hope your weekend is a god one. Diane