I Remember

I remember on that day, 9-11, where I was when I first heard our country was under attack. The phone rang, and my friend Suzanne was on the line. "A plane just hit the World Trade Center!" she exclaimed. I scrambled in my mind to think of what and where the World Trade Center was, and might have even asked her. I vaguely remembered reading about the attack in '93. My next thought was that surely it was an accident, a small aircraft hitting a skyscraper. I briefly remember thinking it was too bad, surely a few people would lose their lives in an accident like this. Suzanne told me to turn on my television, and that she would call me later.

I went into the kitchen where I had a tiny tv/radio combination, the screen was black and white and just a few inches across. I turned on the news station just as the second plane slammed into the second tower. With horror I realized this was a huge catastrophe, and that it surely was no accident. Talk began to surface on the news about a "terrorist act" and further word came that the Pentagon had been hit, and another plane had gone down in a field in PA. I was so scared, and the horrible images on the tv screen terrified me. Would they hit the base in Grand Forks? How could I protect my children? Should Kyle come home from work? What was coming next?

We all remember seeing people falling or jumping to their death. Awful. Watching the first tower, then the second, come tumbling to the ground, knowing there were thousands who were dying. People dazedly walking through the streets, covered with soot, or blood, or both. Then the long days of rescue and recovery, hoping and praying for just one more survivor. There were only twenty people rescued alive from the rubble. They likened the falling buildings to a "washing machine filled with chunks of concrete". It sickens me that many people never even had a trace of their loved one left to bury. One rescuer said, "There were thousands of people in these buildings. Where ARE they?!?" I can only imagine their frustration.

Like the generation before us who witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor, 9-11 is also a day which shall live in infamy. I still cry when I hear stories of people who lost their lives. Let's remember to pray that we will never forget, and pray for God's mercy and grace upon this great country of ours. God, please bless America!

Reflectively yours ~ Beth ~