In Rememberence of the Unnessecary Loss of Innocent Americans who Perished as the Result of Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001

I write this of course deeply troubled by the fact that their deaths are used to advance the political agenda of politicians on both sides. What happened on September 11, 2001 should never be forgotten by Americans, however, it should not be drawn into politics. Every politician, I'm sure, showed Patriotism on that fateful day either by their actions, words, or among family members. This event is the Pearl Harbor of our time, except perhaps more frightening now because we still haven't tracked down the man who orchestrated this attack. Pearl Harbor drew Americans into WWII for about 4 years. It's now 7 years since the twin towers, pentagon, and hillside in Pennsylvania were taken out by hijacked airplanes containing hundreds of terrified passengers, yet the "war on terror" still lingers. 9/11 has not been lost on us. It certainly is not lost on me.

Every year on this day I am a college freshman again. The events of that day replay in my mind, from the way I heard the news to what I did before I went to bed. The shock of the towers crashing into the earth is reborn every year. The disbelief that the towers no longer exist still hits me hard. The first time I saw the skyline without those monuments, a tribute to the nineteenth/twentieth century working class Americans who erected them, I bit my lip hard to hold back tears. In their place is a hole in the ground where many Americans died against their will that Tuesday (I'm pretty sure it was a Tuesday).

Anyway September 11, 2001 began rather ubruptly. It was one of two days in a week that I didn't have 8am class, so I was taking full advantage of it. The sound of the telephone cut through my dream and since I was on the bottom bunk I had to answer it. I must say that I answered the phone rather rudely (I regret that to this day). It was my roommate's mom, so I woke her up and handed the phone to her. Then I crawled back into bed and tried to go back to sleep. The only thing I recall from my roommate's end of the conversation was her saying "Oh my God!" She then jumped off the top bunk and turned on the television. I got rather annoyed, thinking she had turned on something like Oprah, but when I glanced at the television I saw one of the towers had smoke coming out of it. I sat up in my bed and watched in stunned silence as the newscaster described what had happened.

Moments later the second tower was hit and I saw it live. My roommate and I were speechless. We didn't know whether to believe it was real or not. But it was. We kept our eyes glued to the moniter, watching the replays over and over. The broadcast cut to the pentagon in DC saying it too was under attack. We were getting scared. My roommate was from Chicago so we were both praying nothing would happen there. The news then cut back to the WTC and we watched as one building collapsed and soon later the other one too. We didn't leave our room until 11am. I had to go to class, which of course ended up being cancelled. I walked back to my residence hall, considered going to lunch but was not hungry so I went back to my room. I lived on the top floor of my residence hall and I remember watching people gather in the "mall" for a prayer session. I watched from my room (I could hear it all) and I took a picture of the crowd...the most people I have ever seen in the AMU mall ever. Later that evening MU held a mass, which I attended with some of my friends.

The resolve that Americans have shown since that day has been amazing. I am proud of the way our country responded to the attack and I was proud of how we all bonded together and put aside our partisan bickering. I am proud to be an American.

We will never forget those who lost their lives on that day, or those who became ill from the clean up. God bless you.