Monday, September 11, 2006

Remembering

Today marks the anniversary of one of the most tragic days in American History. I am sure when we think back we all can remember exactly what we were doing when it all started. The other night I watched the Flight 93 movie. It was good. It wasn't the acting that made it good, but the story of what we all lived through that day wether we made it out alive or not. I cried and cried. Not sure why it was touching my emotions in such a way. I cried for those on the planes. Who didn't know what was really going on. I cried for the families that said good bye on the cell phones. I cried for those who didn't get to say good bye. I cried for our country. I cried for the soveriegn provision for me and my children's life. It brought back the intensity of that day. You know how sometimes a song or smell can bring back a memory, this is what it did to me. Many of you know that our family lived in the D.C. area at the time. My children and I were scheduled on the flight out of Reagan National airport that afternoon. I was busy getting ready to fly back to Springfield with a layover in Chicago. An earlier flight had been the ideal travel plan but for "some reason" the computer would not let us book the 8:00 am flight. Our city was in complete confusion. We tried to go give blood but the lines were out the door. We went to our church where many students in our private school had parents who worked at the Pentagon trying to call their parents. Phone lines were jammed and it was overwhelmingly scary. If you have ever visited D.C. you know that it is very ethnicly diverse. The complex we lived in had many muslim families. And to be quite honest I have never been more terrified in my life. We spent time with friends watching the television. One young woman in our Sunday school class worked across the street from the Pentagon. She was walking to the building when the plane crashed into it. Her account of what happened was remarkable. She told how she hit the ground and then got up and everyone just started running. Getting a cab was almost impossible. She threw herself in front of one and got him to stop. She was able to make it out of the city hours later. I say all of this to say, when you think about it doesn't it make you mad all over again?! The nerve of acting out against America all in the name of what they call a 'holy war'. It makes me angry! Time has gone by and somehow the day to day makes it not hurt as much but we can never forget. We can never let our gaurd down. Thank you to the men and women who serve our country and fight for my freedom to share thoughts just like this on a public blog. And I thank God for the country we live in.

1 comment:

hillenblogshappywife said...

bec, i remember calling you that day.How scary it was, how isolated we felt, how surreal it all seemed. I cry still, and getting to go to Ground Zero this past april was incredible.To hear silence around it...even the traffic seemed quiet, even 5 years later. My heart aches for those who lost family and friends, at Ground Zero, the Pentagon and Flight 93. Mark and i went to see it at the theatre, and it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. To already know the ending, that nothing was gonna make it okay...but i am glad we went...to remember.