Never Forget

I haven't written anything in over two years. Nothing of substance at least. There was a period of time where nothing seemed funny to me, nothing was worth writing down. But last night, I realized something. That I don't have to try and be funny all of the time. If a subject speaks to me, gives me that buzzy feeling in the center of my body, I want to write about it. As I'm writing this, the clock turned over to a new day. Sept 11th.

I was 16 Sept 11, 2001. Coming in to Civics  Constitutional Government  with Mrs. McGuan when the T.V. was on which wasn't unusual, but when we all were seated, we saw the reports. That a plane had crashed into a building in New York. My immediate thought was how unbelievable it was that a plane was flying that close to a building. I think at that time, the second plane had hit but nothing had collapsed yet. While we were trying to get more information, my high schools' fire alarm went off and out everyone went. Me, as I've always had a thing for odd little coincidences, walked out of the classroom thinking, "It's 9/11 today. It's 911".

Outside, we all marched to the parameter and waited to go back inside. I met up with my friend, Jodi, and told her that planes had hit the Twin Towers. She said I was full of shit. Irritated that she didn't know and didn't believe me about the Twin Towers, which I had never heard of before then, I told her the T.V.s in the commons areas would probably be on and she could see it herself.

And they were, all the T.V.s in the school were on, even wheeled in to the classrooms if there weren't any already there. As a high schooler, you really don't understand the magnitude of an event like this. We didn't realize that on that day, everything before it became Pre 9/11 and everything after, Post 9/11.

I had gone home after school to my mom watching the news. She would continue to do so, religiously, for several months straight before it got to be too much. My parents had already gassed up all of our vehicles as everyone 30 years and older were afraid of gas shortages. My high school boyfriend picked me up and we went out to the country to get his grandfathers diesel truck, which we had to go and fill the tank up. It was a beautiful evening, clear skies, nearing September dusk, crisp and cool when the boy I loved held my hand and said, "Well, it looks like we're going to war". I asked him if he really believed that and we sat in silence for the rest of the ride while I cried quietly.

And the tears would flow, from myself and everyone I knew, in the coming days and months after the attacks. Tears for the men and women killed that day and for those First Responders, firefighters and police officers that put their lives at risk to find and help survivors. All of these people should be remembered and not just on a reserved day for them. They should be remembered through actions and not just lip service. Teach your children about what happened and how the entire makeup of the world changed that day. Let's support the First Responders who now suffer from medical issues stemming from rescuing and clean up. Be forever grateful for those men and women who wanted to sign up and serve their country and went off to war. Thank a Vet, a current military member, a police officer, a firefighter, a medical professional. Stand together, stand united.

It's been a decade and a half since it occurred. The further away you get from a tragic event, the easier it is to separate yourself from it, to forget. But we cannot let that happen to Sept. 11th. and those who had their lives taken savagely. Let us never forget.