11 Years ago

It's hard for me to grasp that 11 years ago I sat bewildered in a classroom looking at footage of airliners smashing into the World Trade Center buildings.  I was still in high school at the time and all I could do to try to understand what I was seeing was to think that it was some kind of movie.  When I first started to see the footage, the second plane hadn't hit yet.  Witnessing that event, even if it was just on a Live TV broadcast, sent a shudder down my spine.  It was hard to stomach that I had just watched an airliner full of people perish amidst the flames and debris.  The punches of reality really set in as I watched each tower sink into ash clouds below.  It's truly been the most horrific thing I can say I've ever seen.

USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor

11 years ago, I'm kind of glad this is still true.  I'm glad that nothing else of this magnitude has happened.  Not just on American soil, but around the world.  Mother Nature has dealt blows with natural disasters, but there's no malice, no hate in those actions.  Politicians have been attacked verbally, physically, but those were actions against individuals.  Even a shooting in a mall in the city I live in doesn't stack up to the events that unfolded on this day 11 years ago.

Take some time today to reflect, even if you're not living in the United States, about what happened that day.  Over a decade later, it's easy for those feelings to fade away from our memories, but those who served, died, and witnessed this event deserve a few minutes of your time.  I realize that some of my readers may not have been of age to witness this tragedy or were too young at the time to fully understand it, but regardless of that fact, the right thing to do today is to give a bit of your time just to think.