I was in Mrs. Lowery's Oral Communications class at Bay High School. We were about to continue a movie, I think Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio. I was excited because I liked the movie, and I was really anxious to watch it's inevitable ending. Mrs. Lowery turned on the TV to get the movie started. I was ticked a little inside because Mrs. Lowery didn't turn it directly to the movie. Instead, she stepped back a little and watched with a strange face. She said something that I can't remember now, and called the office. We were the first class in the school to see the Twin Towers under attack. For the rest of the day, as we went from class to class, the boys asked the teachers if we could watch the news. At the time, I thought they were just trying to avoid classwork, but looking back, I think the guys in my class were actually a little concerned. They probably had a little better grasp on the situation than I did. I was a little girl, focused on the volleyball practice I'd attend later that day. I didn't really know what was happening, even though my history teacher, Mr. Watkins, agreed to let us watch the news because we would be "watching history."
Later that day, at the volleyball practice, everyone was flipping out because gas prices were going to "be $5 by the next day." I remember my friend, Sarah, sent her mom to fill her tank during practice. I still didn't understand what was going on. I hadn't heard of Jihad or the Taliban or any of that. I imagined war as the way my Dad gently described Viet Nam to me. If this was war, it was strange that it was in my country, and it was freakin' cowardly of them (whoever they were) to attack us like that. Why blindside us? If you're going to fight us, why not look us in the face and do it?
After that, American flags and the slogan "United We Stand" were everywhere. I didn't ever totally grasp the magnitude of the events of September 11. Maybe I'm still a little confused by all of it, and I'm a little sickened by those who point fingers at our own nation as if those terrorist acts were committed and planned by our own people. But I won't get started on political banter.
Everyone is sharing where they were on that horrible day. I shared my story, but perhaps the bigger, more important story is where are we now? Do we allow those events to change us? Because we should. The events on that day changed this country forever, as it should have. We shouldn't be the same people after something so awful happened. I know now that I'm grown and more enlightened to what terrorism and war are, I don't react the same way I did when Mrs. Lowery interrupted Romeo and Juliet. I try to be in-tune with what's going on in my country and the world. I try to understand our political leaders and their decisions. I try not to box myself up so much in my own world of safety and self-absorbance that I don't pay attention to worldly issues. I want to know what my husband and so many others are so willing to fight for.
I love my country so much. I love what we stand for. I love that our land is covered with men and women who see a bigger picture than their own, and they bravely step out to defend their country, as well as people who don't really appreciate their sacrifice. I love that the United States of America was founded on the same beliefs I hold so dear to my heart as a Christian. I love that everyone has a chance here. And I love that I live in a country that won't sit back and let the bad guy prevail.
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