Remembering 9/11: 20 Years Later

Many people remember where they were on the morning of September 11th, 2001. For me, I’ll never forget the horror I awoke to after crawling out of bed that morning. For many, September 11, 2001 started out as just another beautiful day. Until a single act of terror would ripple over the next 2-decades of our lives.

The morning of September 11, 2001 was not your usual morning for me. Instead, I would be rattled awake by my mother from a peaceful sleep. That morning, my bedroom alarm clock was set to wake me up early in order to prepare myself to attend a meeting at a nearby Catholic High School early that day, to inquire about enrolling after finding myself expelled from my previous high school (long story). And while I would still attend that meeting; I found myself first confronting the horror only those who lived through Pearl Harbor in 1941 faced. At first, when I was awakened to the news of the attack on the Trade Towers (in a half-awake/half-asleep stooper), I thought my mother was telling me about the bombing that occurred in Oklahoma City (back in 1995). Pulling the covers up over my head and rolling over to go back to sleep, my mother shouted “NO! NEW YORK!” Completely unaware of what was going on, unsure of what I was hearing or to believe frankly; I dragged myself out of bed that morning only to be confronted by what all of us would witness on our television screens (except for those in/near or around ground zero). In disbelief, I thought I was staring at a movie, not an actual breaking news broadcast. Having grown up watching The Empire State Building and The White House destroyed in the blockbuster alien invasion movie Independence Day (back in 1996). But this was no movie! This was real life! Unfortunately, I didn’t have long to watch what was unfolding in front of my eyes, as I had to get ready for my meeting that afternoon. What I’ll never forget on my way to the Catholic high school that morning, was the lineup of cars waiting to enter into the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel. A lineup that went back for a couple of blocks, as the bus I was on turned. It was as if time itself slowed to a near stop for a moment. However, even on my way to the school, I still saw plenty of people throughout my city moving along with their lives, as if nothing happened or simply were just unaware of what occurred in New York City (and later at the U.S. Pentagon, as well in the state of Pennsylvania). Returning home after the meeting, the haze of shock set in over the city. A numbness in the air so potent set in, I don’t even remember witnessing the collapse of the Trade Towers. It didn’t dawn on me until much later that this would be a much different world we would be living in after. Not especially as I was only 15 years old when 9/11 occurred, but also I began thinking of my (now former) best friend who was expecting her first child (at just 16 years of age).

What kind of life would her daughter know?

Would she be aware of the events that occurred, as a post-9/11 child?

All these questions floating around in my head and yet also recognizing the tremendous loss of life which had just occurred in the process. Those who would never get to hug their mothers or fathers again. Husbands and wives, lost in a single stroke of terrorism.

    It’s been 20 years later and much of our world has changed. Much of our lives have changed along with it. The memory of that horrific day remains forever embered in our minds, as we celebrate the anniversary of that tragic event every year. Not only to remember the names and faces of lives lost on that day but also, like every other major tragedy that has occurred in our lifetimes (both past and present), to remember to take each day as we have them to live life like it is our last. And though our world is even more divided now politically than it was then, in times of tragedy (for however brief) we do find ways to come together.

Image Credit: Wikipedia

This blog is written in remembrance of all those whose lives were lost on September 11, 2001. In tribute to those who lost loved ones on that day, and anyone affected the events on 9/11/2001. We will never forget.