14 September 2008

september 11th

It didn't feel right just allowing September 11th to pass without some comment.

I will never forget being woken up by my big sister in the apartment we shared in Austin, the look of devastation on her face. I will never forget watching as towers crashed and horror was made real to people all across America. I will never forget going to class that day and wondering how my fluency in Italian had anything to do with this new world we lived in. I will never forget getting on the bus to go home that evening and looking around at everyone for just a moment longer, not sure if I was suspicious or just needing someone else to feel as I did. I will never forget.

2 comments:

  1. I was checking my mail at the Student Union center at Trinity College. I saw athletes gawking at a large screen TV with CNN and was baffled at how they could watch anything other than ESPN so wandered over just as the footage showed the second plane colliding with the Towers. We had an instant convocation of prayer time in the chapel. I was sitting there, my head spinning, when I realized that my grandfather, a general, was at the Pentagon and en route for a meeting at the WTC. Panic struck me - was he dead? I ran to my dorm and called home to find out my grandfather was providencially stuck in traffic after leaving the Pentagon late for a morning meeting he ended up missing in the WTC. Literally one hour of delays in meetings had saved his life.

    Yet, somehow the 9/11 horrors didn't freak me out. I was devastated by the loss of innocent lives...yet, struck by how delusional Americans are on the concept of risk or safety. We're not more at risk post-9/11, it's just that an attack got through. The world wasn't safe before, it won't be safe afterwards. Injustice terrorizes many regions of the globe daily without media coverage because it is routine, while it was exceptional for our privileged nation. It wasn't a shock - it was a reminder...control is an illusion. Security is always superficial. Life is fragile, and unchecked extremism from any ideology can result in the needless carnage.

    The question is - does 9/11 make us rise to the occassion of intense appetite for destruction, humbled by the uncontrollable domino chain of conflict, awakened by the reality of our dependence, unify or divide, increase love or hate, evoke compassion or preservationalism?

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  2. Yes my Brother that was a horror that shook the world as I was standing on the stage with Tamaran about to get ready for Praise and Worship and I just was shocked and all the people I know in America just flashed through my mind and we stopped and prayed THAT WILL BE A DAY I THINK NONE OF US WILL EASILY FORGET

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