We Remember: 9/11/01

I don't ask for much, but I do ask that you take the time to read this essay I wrote about the attacks:

I was a freshly minted 6th grader and was just about to get on the bus when the first plane hit; my mom was watching the infamous Today Show footage, I heard via the radio as that was (and is) my main way of getting news and information nowadays. Got on the bus and updated my friend Brandon what was going on as he had been on the bus for a good half hour and wrote it off as "some plane". 30 minutes later we got to school and heard a very different situation; both towers had been hit and we saw the South Tower come down before our very eyes on CNN, followed soon by the North Tower, the Pentagon, and Flight 93.

I don't remember much about the rest of the day; it was more or less a blur. I do remember, however, how my homeroom teacher kept us together and comforted as a class. Teaching was his second career as he had spent the better part of the 1980's in Berlin as a Russian translator for the Army. We were in the middle of a lesson when one of my classmates asked if we were going to be okay in Minnesota. He stops and pulls down the US map and takes a good 5 minutes to outline where our Air Force bases are located, along with the fact how our fighter jets were ready to intercept anything that was in the sky at this point and how that helped a lot of the kids' minds.

I also remember that there was a blessing of sorts that day too; the day before our school had hosted a yo-yo assembly and a lot of the kids had bought yo-yos. I'll also always remember I'd say 20 kids in one corner of the playground playing with their yo-yos trying to come to grips with had happened that day. They had a distraction; I was a 12 year old kid trying to process a) what the hell had happened to our country and b) what was next...I guess you could liken it to when Scarlett returns to find Tara in ruins and has no idea what to do.

Also since then, I've realized the great sacrifices our Armed Forces make. So wherever I am, if I see someone in uniform, I thank them and shake their hand. I've heard some interesting stories; everything from a guy I met at my old job that I helped who said I was the first person outside of family to recognize his service to one I met on an airport layover and explained to me how we are winning in Iraq, despite claims to the otherwise. The official recognition of this day is Patriot Day, so go out and recognize a patriot, whether its a cop, fire fighter, active or retired armed service member, etc.