Let Us Not Forget September 11th, 2001

Today is September 11th, 2011. I think we all know what happened ten years ago on this day. The sad thing is, is that today's youth might not know exactly what happened ten years ago today. They may hear words and terms such as: September 11th, the war on terror, terrorism, World Trade Centers, Ground Zero, etc. but not really have a clue as to what it all means. I really pray that today's parents and educators take time to stop the busyness, stop the cramming for End of Grade tests, and take the time this event deserves to be respected, remembered, and honored. We need to not forget about the victims that lost their lives that day, the family members and loved ones who lost someone they cared for, the children without parents, the heroes of that day, and the volunteers who have sacrificed their future health to help those in desperate need.

I can tell you exactly what I was doing {sitting in 1st period}, what classroom I was in {9th grade English}, what I was feeling {fear, worry, confusion}, and what I thought {World War III is going to start}. Seriously, that's what I thought. Our teachers and administrators thought it would be best to "help us not panic," or "not cause chaos" or whatever they thought, and turned the TVs off so we couldn't see anymore news. We all saw newscasts of what had just happened, and then had to go to school the remainder of the day not having a clue what in the world the world was coming to! I'm not gonna lie, that was a super scary experience for us adolescents and for the record: I don't think it was the best idea ever. Back then I had nightmares anyways, nightmares about the world ending and things of the sort. WWIII was one of my biggest fears. So, you can imagine my torment throughout the day, as I waited to turn on the TV when I got home to see any updates. Watching bombings on Baghdad and worrying how they would retaliate seriously filled my days. It was horrible.

But not nearly as horrible as the experiences of the actual bystanders, the experiences of the people not being able to get ahold of their loved ones in NYC, or be able to get on a flight back home to their families. I can not even begin to imagine what that felt like. No experience in my life would ever be able to hold a candle to that amount of fear, worry, and torment those victims endured.

Thank you Facebook for now showing me past Facebook statuses "on this day" in the past two years. It reminded me of this fabulous quote/reminder:

"Freedom isn't free. Somebody paid."

Let us not forget!