ten years ago

On September 11, 2001, it was four days before my tenth birthday. I was super excited. Double digits, finally!

Since I was only in the fourth grade, we still got recess after lunch. Oh, those were wonderful days. It was a bright September day, and we kids were eagerly awaiting the chance to play outside and be noisy. We were kids, what can I say?

Not an original.
Click the image.

They didn't let us go outside. We had to stay in the gym. What's more, they wouldn't let us be very loud either. Actually, they didn't really let us play. They made us sit on the floor and be quiet for the entire twenty minute recess. To an almost-ten-year-old, twenty minutes where we could only sit and think was super boring.

We thought we were in trouble, and we said as much to our teacher when we went back into the classroom. She said that no, we weren't in trouble, but a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania, so they wanted us to stay inside. Even to fourth graders, this seemed completely unreasonable. Pennsylvania was ages upon ages away. Why did it matter? Besides, planes crashed often enough.

It wasn't until I got home that I realized something was wrong. I came home to an almost completely silent house. The only thing playing was the TV. I will never forget Mom's expression when I asked her what happened, or what happened. "They attacked our country."

The horror of 9/11 is something that will never leave my memory.
No one who was old enough to understand what was happening will forget it. Terrorists are aptly named. This was the first attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor in 1941. Yet the terror also helped unify our country. Patriotism blossomed. Firefighters and policemen were held in high esteem.

While the actual terror of the day has faded somewhat, people live every day with the knowledge that al Quaida took away their loved ones. They will never see family members again, whether they worked in the Twin Towers or the Pentagon, were passengers in the planes, or were the policemen and firefighters and civilians who responded to the attack.

For all of them, I offer this song and prayer:



Translation: Merciful Jesus, merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest
Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world
Lamb of God, grant them rest
Merciful Jesus, merciful Lord Jesus, grant them rest


However, despite the horror and such of that day, and the fact that only four terrorists died while approximately 3000 Americans died, the terrorists did not win. Rather than a country splintered and uncaring, we became a people who were determined to live on. To live in terror and not eventually resume life in as normal a way as possible is letting them win.




Courage is when you're afraid but you keep on moving anyway
Courage is when you're in pain but you keep on living anyway


On this day, we remember that terrorists attacked our country. And we remember that despite their attempts to undermine our country, we live on. Today, we remember that we are Americans.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
And to the republic for which it stands
One nation
Under God
Indivisible
With liberty and justice for all. 


Take that, terrorists.



-enna