First Thoughts on 9/11

Today is the eighth anniversary of 9/11. I can’t believe it has been eight years since it happened. But, since the feelings of fear and panic have gone away…those feelings I used to get just thinking about it…I guess time does heal.

I was remembering my first thoughts when everything was happening on that day. When something tragic happens, it seems like what a person is thinking is imprinted on their minds. It becomes a very intense memory.

Eight years ago this morning, I was watching the Today Show and fixing breakfast for my dad (he was still alive and I was taking care of him). Matt Lauer was in the middle of an interview when he stopped, said that he had to end the interview and that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. My first thought? What idiot didn’t see that big of a building and managed to crash his plane into it?

I was standing in the living room so I could keep checking on breakfast and still see the news when I saw the second plane heading toward the other tower. My first thought? Why would a news organization use a plane to cover this instead of a helicopter?

Then the plane crashed into the second tower. I remember being stunned. Absolutely flabbergasted. My first thought? This is deliberate and what the hell did we do to these people to piss them off?

As time went on, I ate breakfast with Dad and we watched the towers burning and talked to my brother on the phone. All of a sudden, one of the towers fell and then the second one fell. My first thought? All of those policemen and firemen were still in the buildings!! Not that I thought they should have abandoned their duty but they rushed into burning buildings and now they are dead.

Then there was the news of a plane crash in Pennsylvania and then at the Pentagon. One tragedy on top of the next. I was trying to process all of this. My first thought? When will this end?

I could go into all my theories as to why this happened. I don’t think all the truth as come out about it. I think we have been told what we need to know to keep everyone calm. Someday, maybe, the truth will be told. Someday, maybe, we will fully understand why we were attacked and what could have been done to prevent it. Someday, maybe, peace will come. Someday….maybe….