Picture by SavidgeMichael; Wikimedia
On the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on 2001, we remember. All of us old enough that day do remember exactly where we were when we first heard the news and turned on our televisions or radios and witnessed unspeakable horrors. I was having an ordinary day at home. Maybe writing, but I don’t remember for sure. But then my daughter-in-law called and told me to turn on the television. I did. One tower had been hit and was burning and then the second plane slammed into the other tower and no longer could anyone think it might have been a terrible miscalculation of a pilot. It was a terrible thing to watch that and know people were dying. News came of the third plane crashing into the Pentagon and last the incredible bravery of those on the fourth plane as they rushed the hijackers and gave their lives to thwart whatever plan the enemy had for that plane. Hearing of their courage later made you continually wish for a better ending for them. A movie ending where they somehow managed to take control of the plane again and fly it home. But movie endings were not to be.
Back at the Twin Towers, courage was everywhere to be seen as some managed to escape before the towers collapsed. Many others did not. 2,977 people died that day in the planes and in the buildings. Some in the top floors of those towers realized they had no escape and instead of waiting for the fire and smoke to take their lives, jumped. I read a story of a survivor this week who said she could not turn her eyes away as she could look across at that first tower and see people making the sign of the cross and leaping into the air. As hard as it was to watch, she thought she owed it to those people to witness their last moments. Once her building was hit, she made her hazardous way down the collapsing steps to safety.
We can’t forget those heartbreaking last calls to loved ones from the planes and the buildings. We can’t forget those brave firemen and policemen who rushed into those towers to try to save people even though they knew how dangerous it was. And many of them did not make it out. 403 first responders lost their lives that day. And we do remember.
Our nation came together in prayer as people put aside differences to mourn the lost and stand ready to defend against more attacks.
President George W. Bush proclaimed a National Prayer Day on September 14, 2001. Here is a segment of his speech/prayer that day.
It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves. This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded and the world has seen that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave.
We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion, in long lines of blood donors, in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible. And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice:
~Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend.
~A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter.
~Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down 68 floors to safety.
~A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burned victims.
In these acts and many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another and an abiding love for our country.
Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called, “the warm courage of national unity.” This is a unity of every faith and every background. It has joined together political parties and both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils and American flags, which are displayed in pride and waved in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world.
America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom’s home and defender, and the commitment of our Fathers is now the calling of our time.
On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask Almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come.
As we’ve been assured, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth can separate us from God’s love. May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country.
God bless America.
Yes, twenty years later, I still remember. Do you?
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Thanks for sharing your memories, Hope. It couldn’t have been easy trying to maintain a normal atmosphere for those kids you were caring for while you were feeling so torn and sorrowful about all that was happening. I read some of the stories that were put out about the people affected by 9/11 but didn’t watch the shows on television. It’s hard to really feel the sorrow when you think of almost 3,000 people, but when they tell the story about one family or one victim or one survivor, then it hits home in a much stronger way.
I was working that day and my coworker was home and called to tell me that a plane had hit the first tower. We were on the phone as the second plane hit. I worked as a toddler teacher in childcare and my son would be two at the end of the month. It was hard hearing more and more information and looking into all those young innocent faces and not knowing how much worse it might get. Living in Pennsylvania with New York a few hours away and then having the plane go down in that field made it feel extra close and scary-but the entire country and much of the world were united that day in the horror of it all. I pray nothing like that ever happens again and also for our country to go back to that unity that we all felt that day and for so long after. My heart hurts watching the scenes replay on the different shows made to remember that day. I think we all want it to have a movie ending where everyone gets out safely. I found myself watching and thinking “get out of there” but it is real life and we can’t save the lives lost. I pray those lost are with the Lord in Heaven and that His comfort surrounds the families who lost loved ones.