Thursday, September 11, 2008

Seven years...really?

I don't really have a whole lot to say about September 11th, but I was just thinking about how long ago it seems, and yet it also doesn't seem like it could possibly be seven years ago.

Colin had just been born the end of July and was a very tiny baby just recently home from the hospital, I had just turned twelve a week before, and it's strange to look back on it all now.

What is most interesting is looking back on the reaction of twelve years from the viewpoint of nineteen. How I think sometimes I didn't quite get the enormity of it all, and yet I also remember crying bitterly and wondering how people could do something like this and feeling so terribly sorry for all those poor people. I remember my mom telling me about it and turning on the TV and calling Dad to tell him about it...and simply thinking "what? why?" and then seeing another plane crash into the WTC. And I remembering hearing about the plane crashing into the Pentagon, and then when I was outside riding bikes with my friend, my reaction when she asked if I'd heard that someone had bombed the Pentagon was, "Yeah, they crashed a whole plane into it!!" As I said, I don't think I really understood sometimes...but at the time that's just how I saw it.

I also remember cutting out the pictures from the newspaper and making a sort of scrapbook with them (I don't have it anymore)...and drawing a picture of the burning towers...I don't know if I still have that. And I started crying every time I heard Alan Jackson's song "Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)". In fact, I need a kleenex now...it is a good song.

Also, true to sinful human nature, as soon as everyone stopped crying, they started blaming and hating. Terrorists, whoever was sending Anthrax, even God for allowing this.

Anyway, seven years...so much has happened since then. I don't think being depressed and dwelling on this tragedy is the proper thing for Christians to do, but it was terrible, and I know the people who lost relatives haven't forgotten...but I do know that those who are Christians have comfort.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hmmm... yea. wow seven years ago! and i went to the top of the twin towers in may of 2001. I remember on september 11th 2001 my mom, sisters and I went for a walk in the park. We were all in really bad moods (and this was before we knew)...anyways everyone was grumpy and sad and it was really overcast depressing day. I remember one of us saying " i hate today" and i think i replied "today is a bad day". and then we got home and got the phone call and turned on the tv and everything...and it was really weird. I think don't think i fully understand the seriousness of what happened because it did not effect me directly. Anyways...that was a bad day!