My 100th Post: Rememberance and Reflection
Tomorrow is 911 the fifth anniversery 0f 9/11/01 and we all know what that is of course. I recently wrote an email to a friend not meaning to talk about 911, but somehow ended up discussing it in a lengthy paragraph. 911 did affect me rather I saw it then or rather I see the big picture of how it changed me now or not. But the fact remains the same I remember that day five years ago like it was yesterday. Some of my thoughts or how I reacted I am not super proud of or would like to admit, but no matter how much I almost consider and would like to consider myself a foreign 911 always reminds me of how American I really am! I remember being in my high school library that first hour of school my senior year like I usually was because it was my independent study of sociology that semester. I remember the two girls in my class, that everyone kind of thought were crazy, who were the library aids that hour came in from the office and were like we heard on the radio in the office about a plane and as building in NY and all of this stuff. I think I thought they lost it and just kept doing my normal stuff. Then the bell rang and I made it to my second hour class, Spanish 4, and the TV was on and we all just sat there and silence. The one tower had smoke coming out of it and all of that and not to long after that we saw the second plane go in and then the buidings started to collapse. We sat there in silence, I was shocked, like we couldn't believe it! It looked like a movie, like this cannot happen to the US, no way. I think I started to tear up and we were scared because for the first time I think most people in the US thought, "yes, it can happen to us." But anyway it happened and then in southwest Missouri even as were watching it things started to almost start to feel like normal in a weird way. But I was scared for a lot of superficial reasons becuase I was turning 18 the next week on September 19, and the next thing that came to my mind was a big war. Oh no, there is going to be World War III and there is going to be a draft and I am going to go and my life is going to be over! No college, no getting married because I'll go to war and die or even if I don't my life will be forever changed. Sad, but I so remember thinking that! And then the rumor started to go around that gas prices were sky rocketing and that gas was in shortage and I didn't have much gas in my car, oh no! I remember thinking what am I going to do and I have to go to work tonight at McDonalds and work in the grill. That day was weird, everyone was somber, no one made us do any work if we didn't want to and we could watch the TV all day if we wanted to. I remember doing that and then going to work that night after maybe a light cross-country practice (I can't remember if we ran or not). I made my dad come to McDonalds and get my car and fill it up with gas, some gas stations got in a lot of trouble that day for taking advantage of the 911 situation. That Thursday that week we found out that we weren't going to the KU cross-country meet anymore because of 911 (where I was planning on going to college) and we were going to run at Joplin instead. Then the next week, a kid in my brother's grade died on my birthday he had an unexpected brain anerism at school one day. I remember going to See You at The Pole the next morning and thinking wow, this is cool all these people came to pray, but it was about the death. I remember taking my brother and three of his friends to the funeral and a lot of people were affected because my high school was only around 500 people, so there went the birthday. And my brother was pretty close to him and his sister was in my grade so those two weeks were pretty rough all over. I think at the time though I was pretty superficial, and brushed a lot of it off, but felt very patriotic and American for a while like a lot of people. I think that was a good summary of the first half of September of 2001 for me in my life as a senior in high school.
Since then. . . I think things have changed since 9/11/01. I graduated from high school, went to KU, and now I have graduated from college and soon to be in Korea to teach English. I think as much as I disagree with American foreign policy and a lot of other things 911 has more meaning to me now maybe. After growing up some and having a greater appreciation for the world and all cultures and my rich experiences, I will always remember 911. I don't know if it is ever going to get easier for this nation to move on and get past it completely, but how horrible! I do not even have tangible first hand pain or sadness from a person I knew from that day, but it is still sad. I remember going to Washington D.C. two months after that in November the week before Thanksgiving for a political leadership conference. My parents almost didn't let me go, but I remember driving by the Pentagon on a bus and still seeing the giant hole in it where the plane hit, it was so eerie. I remember sitting in the capital where the Senate meets and I think a Senator speaking saying you know a plane was headed for here too or something like that. 911 chaged a lot, but I think for me I really haven't seen the full picture until now after everything. Watching the specials, seeing kids growing up without a parent because they died that day all of that, it might not have been as Hurricane Katrina but still a big deal. (do not get me wrong Hurricane Katring was huge and a lot of work still needs to be done, and I fully think we should continue to work on that.) 911 thought. . . I'll always remember!
Well, this post was for me than anyone else. God Bless.
Tomorrow is 911 the fifth anniversery 0f 9/11/01 and we all know what that is of course. I recently wrote an email to a friend not meaning to talk about 911, but somehow ended up discussing it in a lengthy paragraph. 911 did affect me rather I saw it then or rather I see the big picture of how it changed me now or not. But the fact remains the same I remember that day five years ago like it was yesterday. Some of my thoughts or how I reacted I am not super proud of or would like to admit, but no matter how much I almost consider and would like to consider myself a foreign 911 always reminds me of how American I really am! I remember being in my high school library that first hour of school my senior year like I usually was because it was my independent study of sociology that semester. I remember the two girls in my class, that everyone kind of thought were crazy, who were the library aids that hour came in from the office and were like we heard on the radio in the office about a plane and as building in NY and all of this stuff. I think I thought they lost it and just kept doing my normal stuff. Then the bell rang and I made it to my second hour class, Spanish 4, and the TV was on and we all just sat there and silence. The one tower had smoke coming out of it and all of that and not to long after that we saw the second plane go in and then the buidings started to collapse. We sat there in silence, I was shocked, like we couldn't believe it! It looked like a movie, like this cannot happen to the US, no way. I think I started to tear up and we were scared because for the first time I think most people in the US thought, "yes, it can happen to us." But anyway it happened and then in southwest Missouri even as were watching it things started to almost start to feel like normal in a weird way. But I was scared for a lot of superficial reasons becuase I was turning 18 the next week on September 19, and the next thing that came to my mind was a big war. Oh no, there is going to be World War III and there is going to be a draft and I am going to go and my life is going to be over! No college, no getting married because I'll go to war and die or even if I don't my life will be forever changed. Sad, but I so remember thinking that! And then the rumor started to go around that gas prices were sky rocketing and that gas was in shortage and I didn't have much gas in my car, oh no! I remember thinking what am I going to do and I have to go to work tonight at McDonalds and work in the grill. That day was weird, everyone was somber, no one made us do any work if we didn't want to and we could watch the TV all day if we wanted to. I remember doing that and then going to work that night after maybe a light cross-country practice (I can't remember if we ran or not). I made my dad come to McDonalds and get my car and fill it up with gas, some gas stations got in a lot of trouble that day for taking advantage of the 911 situation. That Thursday that week we found out that we weren't going to the KU cross-country meet anymore because of 911 (where I was planning on going to college) and we were going to run at Joplin instead. Then the next week, a kid in my brother's grade died on my birthday he had an unexpected brain anerism at school one day. I remember going to See You at The Pole the next morning and thinking wow, this is cool all these people came to pray, but it was about the death. I remember taking my brother and three of his friends to the funeral and a lot of people were affected because my high school was only around 500 people, so there went the birthday. And my brother was pretty close to him and his sister was in my grade so those two weeks were pretty rough all over. I think at the time though I was pretty superficial, and brushed a lot of it off, but felt very patriotic and American for a while like a lot of people. I think that was a good summary of the first half of September of 2001 for me in my life as a senior in high school.
Since then. . . I think things have changed since 9/11/01. I graduated from high school, went to KU, and now I have graduated from college and soon to be in Korea to teach English. I think as much as I disagree with American foreign policy and a lot of other things 911 has more meaning to me now maybe. After growing up some and having a greater appreciation for the world and all cultures and my rich experiences, I will always remember 911. I don't know if it is ever going to get easier for this nation to move on and get past it completely, but how horrible! I do not even have tangible first hand pain or sadness from a person I knew from that day, but it is still sad. I remember going to Washington D.C. two months after that in November the week before Thanksgiving for a political leadership conference. My parents almost didn't let me go, but I remember driving by the Pentagon on a bus and still seeing the giant hole in it where the plane hit, it was so eerie. I remember sitting in the capital where the Senate meets and I think a Senator speaking saying you know a plane was headed for here too or something like that. 911 chaged a lot, but I think for me I really haven't seen the full picture until now after everything. Watching the specials, seeing kids growing up without a parent because they died that day all of that, it might not have been as Hurricane Katrina but still a big deal. (do not get me wrong Hurricane Katring was huge and a lot of work still needs to be done, and I fully think we should continue to work on that.) 911 thought. . . I'll always remember!
Well, this post was for me than anyone else. God Bless.
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