Wednesday marked the 12th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in New York. As I took time to reflect on the day and my thoughts and memories, at times I cannot believe 12 years have gone by. I recently saw something posted on twitter asking what do you tell children who were born after 2001 about that day? Right now, I do not have children but wonder when that time comes how do you explain that day to them? Also, at what age is the right age to explain something like that?
I will never forget where I was and what I was doing the day the world changed forever. I was barely 21 and a sophomore in college at Baylor University. I remember waking up and going to my first class of the day, Latin. This was a very small class, only about 8 people or so in the class. As we waited for the professor to come a whole bunch of us were talking. This one girl first told us all about attacks on the world trade center and how she thought it was a movie, and then changed the channel and saw it on every channel. We went in and had our class as normal. The professor did not say anything about the attacks. At the end of the class he passed out a quiz. The bonus question was: What happened this morning? I will never forget that question and just thinking wow.
Next, as I walked around campus I have never been anywhere that was so strangely quiet. It was like people did not know what to think or do, or even understand and comprehend how our world was changed in just a few minutes. I remember going back to my dorm room between classes. I had to wake up my roommate and try to tell her what had happened. I just turned on the TV. Next, I called home and could hear the sirens going off at my parents house over the phone. I remember being very scared and feeling farther away from home than I really was.
I went to my sociology class, where the teacher talked about what had happened. She let a couple of students go who were trying to get in touch with friends and family up in the New York area. Little did they know getting in touch that day would take time. I remember her telling us that we would have time to talk about what happened, our thoughts and really go over it as a class.
My last class of the day was intro to mass media. I remember walking in and the professor did not really have class. He just had the video of the day streaming. By this time it was the afternoon and everyone continued to just sit and watch.
That weekend, I decided to drive the hour and a half trip back to Dallas. I remember going to Church that Sunday. I have never seen a line like that to get into church, on a regular non-holiday service. My Mom and I went and heard Reverend Mark Craig give his sermon. He has two sons around my age. One son, he said was a freshman at a college near New York, in a neighboring state, where he could see from his dorm room the attacks take place. I remember Mark Craig saying, his son asked him why did this happen? A question everyone was at the time and still today is trying to answer. The answer back then was we don't really know. The answer today, some people really do not like the US and wanted to attack just because.
Each generation has a big event where they will never forget where they were. For my parents generation it was the day JFK was killed, and for my grandparents generation it was Pearl Harbor. I just pray that the next generation does not have to witness such horrific events in their lifetime.
