Remembering September 11

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Patriot’s Day isn’t a day meant to be celebrated like Thanksgiving or Christmas. It’s a day for remembrance. September 11 wasn't just shocking because terrorist attacks were unheard of in 2001. Unfortunately, terrorist attacks occurred around the world on a pretty regular basis. It was shocking, at least to me, because many people didn’t think it could happen in the United States.

When I was teaching, I would stop on September 11 and talk about it. As the year passed, there were less and less students who were knowledgeable about exactly what happened that day. It’s not their fault. A baby born on September 11, 2001 would turn 19 today. It was important to me to share my story with my students. I wasn’t in New York or Washington, D.C . when the attacks happened and I didn’t lose any family members or friends in the tragedy. I was a college student in Kentucky, but everyone was impacted, regardless of location. I felt if my students heard my stories and heard how important it was to me, it might be important to them too. At the very least. I wanted them to walk away from that class knowing more about Sept. 11 that they did before my lesson. In addition to my story, I also shared video of the attacks and music that was inspired by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

I didn’t have any early classes on Tuesday, so I was out late on the night of September 10. My friends and I would often meet at the nearby Perkins restaurant to talk and drink coffee. My mother called me early on Sept. 11 and tried to tell me about what was happening. I didn’t understand exactly what she was saying until she called me for a second time a little while later. I got up and turned on the TV. I will never forget seeing the footage.

Throughout my college career, I was heavily involved with the college newspaper. I decided to go to the newspaper office to see how we were going to cover the attacks. It felt like we needed to do something. As I was driving to the newspaper office on the other side of the campus, “Only In America” by Brooks and Dunn came on the radio. I had heard this song before, but I heard it in a different way on the morning of September 11, 2001. The first line of the song – “Sun coming up over New York City” – hit me hard in light of what I had seen on the television.

Once I reached the office, I found out that we were going to a special issue.  I was told that we were able to have the special edition run in our weekly issue, but we would have to have the special issue done by the following morning. This would require all hands on deck to achieve such a lofty goal. I assigned myself a few stories. The special section was important to me. I wanted it to be truly special so it would document what was happening and honor the country I love.

During the day, I went to special events on campus and I talked to different people. As I listened to people talk, I knew that every single person was impacted in some way. They didn’t have to know anyone personally that was involved in the attack. Even in a small town in northern Kentucky, people had been shaken to the core. Almost immediately, I saw a sense of patriotism by almost everyone. It was something I hadn’t seen since Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert storm a decade earlier. There were flags waving. There were songs being sung. There were USA chants. There were homemade signs. People found ways to express their love for America and they did so very proudly.

I wondered what it was like for those who had witnessed the attack. I went online to try to find someone to chat with from New York City. I did find such a person and I interviewed them via an online chat. I don’t remember the lady’s name, but there are things that she told me that I will never forget. One of the things she told me was that she had a screensaver of the World Trade Center on her computer and she said that she couldn’t look at it anymore. Wow! What a statement! As I was later writing my story, I realized that she really couldn’t look at it anymore because the towers had fallen. I remember sitting in front of a computer desperately trying to finish writing my story in the middle of the night with tears streaming down my face.

At one point, one of my friends called and asked me to come to Perkins. I said that I had too much to do and I had to write all the stories. My friend encouraged me to come on and said that they would help. You need to my understand that my college group of friends was much like a family. We didn’t always agree or even get along, but we were there for each other. I was amazed how the same people who had been arguing a day or two prior working to help me go through all the information and interviews to organize my stories. As I look back, I am so thankful for there help and I am not sure that I could gotten everything done without them. After we worked together, I went back to the office and it still took me until about 6 a.m. to finish everything.

About a week later, my friends and I went to a club. The DJ started to play Lee Greenwood’s hit “God Bless The USA” and the dance floor cleared. Since it was a country bar, a lot of guys were wearing cowboy hats. As I looked around, I saw many guys holding their hat in their hand when the song was playing. A lot of people put lighters in the air. There was a sense of pride and patriotism that night. I don’t think I will ever forget the way I felt in that moment.

I know there were people who lost a lot more than me in the September 11 terrorist attacks. I don’t know anyone who was killed. I believe we all lost something that day. For me, I lost the innocence and naivety of believing it couldn’t happen here. I lost some sense to security that day. It changed me and it changed America.

As I remember that day, I will also remember the brave police officers and fire fighters who ran toward the buildings when everyone else was running away. If not for their courage and bravery, I have no doubt that the fatality count would have been much higher. I don’t want to turn a day of solemn remembrance into anything political, but I do believe those who were injured or sick because of that bravery should not be forgotten today.

CALLS TO ACTION:

  1. Take some time today to remember where you were in September 11 and how it made you feel someone. Then, tell someone about it. That’s the only way that the day we all said that we would never forget will never be forgotten.
  2. Tell a first responder that you know how much you appreciate what they do. They don’t have to have had anything to do with the events of September 11 because you know in your heart that they wouldn’t hesitate to do the same thing if needed.
  3. Thank a member of the military because they stand guard even when it’s not war time to ensure that we can continue to enjoy the freedoms we do. Freedom isn’t free.

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