Saturday, September 11, 2010
September 12
I've edited and am reposting something I wrote two years ago. It seems even more appropriate now than when I originally published it.
That Wednesday morning, September 12, was unlike any other Wednesday morning. After hours glued to the television and a restless night of broken sleep, I woke up to a world I no longer understood. I had been relieved to hear the day before that my three possibly-effected relatives (Dad, uncle, and a cousin) were safe and well, but that consolation had done nothing to help me sleep better. Someone had attacked us and on the morning of 9/12, we still weren't entirely sure of who.
I got up and slowly dressed to leave for school. I had a 9am class that I would gladly have missed, except that it was a poli sci course called Political Behavior and I was relatively sure that the entirety of our class discussion would be about the attacks. I needed to talk about it with someone, anyone, but my roommates and I had talked as much as we could and I needed to see new faces. So, I went to class.
Walking up the street (the campus was only 2 blocks away), I was struck by the sight of the American flags that stood on every lawn. As part of an annual boy scout fundraiser in Ogden, UT, scout troops accepted sign ups and donations at the beginning of each year, and would place flags on the lawns of all the donors for certain holidays: 4th of July, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Presidents' Day. For a one-time fee of $25, they would go around town and put up the flags on the morning of the given holiday, and then return to take them down that night.
Sometime during the night of the 11th, though, the local troops had blanketed the city and had asked for nothing in return. It was beautiful and, for the hundredth time in 24 hours, it brought tears to my eyes.
(Remembering that sight nine years later still makes my eyes well up.)
Sometime during the night of the 11th, though, the local troops had blanketed the city and had asked for nothing in return. It was beautiful and, for the hundredth time in 24 hours, it brought tears to my eyes.
(Remembering that sight nine years later still makes my eyes well up.)
I went to my classes, and was more than a little stunned when our Political Behavior professor stopped us after a few minutes to talk about things that were more "class related." I'm sure he, like everyone else, needed something, ANYTHING else to talk about, but I wasn't ready to discuss elections and voter attitudes. I was deeply grateful later when my Public Policy professor refused to talk about anything besides the latest developments out of New York and Washington. I went through the motions a lot that day, because that was all I could do. Nothing made sense anymore and I had to cling to whatever degree of normal I could find.
Through that day, one resonating realization occurred to me: that we were all in this together. That day, no one was blaming the Republicans or the Democrats for what happened. No one was taking polls to find out how Americans felt about the attacks and no one even considered blaming the President. We were all shocked and devastated and united in a way that I had not seen before and have not seen since. In the wake of the tragedy that was a beautiful and uplifting thing, to see Americans united and mourning together, to see Christians and Jews and Muslims gathered together in prayer. Nothing else mattered that day and it was impossible to believe that it ever would again.
I hear certain pundits on cable news channels or on talk radio that talk about a pre- or a post-9/11 mentality. Basically, the point is that you either still believe the world is safe and no one will ever attack us or you walk around knowing that we could be hit again at any time.
Personally, I wish we all had a 9/12 mentality. Because I really liked that fleeting time when people stopped assigning blame and just worked together. When we didn't worry about petty (and not so petty) differences and just loved each other and helped our neighbors.
I don't ever want to relive those dark days after 9/11, but I do wish we could have clung to that solidarity a little longer.
Personally, I wish we all had a 9/12 mentality. Because I really liked that fleeting time when people stopped assigning blame and just worked together. When we didn't worry about petty (and not so petty) differences and just loved each other and helped our neighbors.
I don't ever want to relive those dark days after 9/11, but I do wish we could have clung to that solidarity a little longer.
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I was talking about something similar last night. It's a shame that all the lessons we should have learned from 9/11 have been so quickly forgotten. We did have those moments where we came together in a way that I haven't seen before. Just like you, I wish we could have kept that.
ReplyDeleteI don't really remember the day after. I think everyone was still in shock.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great post Karen. I like this 9/12 mentality idea. Not once did anyone say anything about it being 9/11 yesterday (probably because of the Ohio State University vs. University of Miami game being on...) but it is amazing how some people chose to focus on the scars of the past instead of seeing where it had the potential to take us as a country.
ReplyDeleteI remember going to class the night of the attacks and being ticked that class wasn't cancelled and that we were talking about things other than what was going on. Looking back, I totally get it.
ReplyDeleteThe flags story brought a tear to my eye. Great post!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post.
ReplyDeleteI have a different experience with 9/11 as I was on a boat off the Alaskan coast when it happened (and for about five days after). Obviously I watched the news and heard what was going on, but being removed from it, I don't think it impacted me as much. But it was amazing to come back to the mainland and see flags EVERYWHERE. It was such a change, and it really was beautiful.
The image of all those flags placed on the lawns with nothing expected in return brought tears to my eyes too.
ReplyDeleteAnd I agree that it would nice if we could always live with a 9/12 mentality. Unfortunatley it is human nature to revert to the status quo. But awareness is the first step. Posts like this one, serve as reminder to us all to keep that 9/12 mentality in our lives.
This post was dead on. Wow. That was a day of coming together if ever there was one. I am glad, that in times of crisis, it doesn't matter to any of us what political party people are a part of, or what church they go to, all that matters is that we love our country. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteIt was definately a shocking day for sure. This was a great post & reminder...
ReplyDelete