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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Remembering 9/11

Current Mood:   
Currently Listening to: Nothing right now

10 years ago today people all around the world watched in horror as planes crashed into buildings, symbols of strength were destroyed, and office workers jumped to their deaths in desperation.

I still lived in the Philippines in 2001, and even though I didn't completely understand what the World Trade Center towers represented at the time, I could see the expression on people's faces as the news cameras zoomed in on them.  Even through the dust and the cameras, the feeling of helplessness was palpable.  I didn't have to be a mind reader to know that the foremost thought on people's minds was, "Oh dear Lord, what do we do now?"  And I had a feeling it was only a matter of time before helplessness would turn into panic and chaos.

And yet that's not what what happened.  I did see the confusion, and I did see the anger, but most of all what I remembered was how people started helping each other.  My most vivid memory of the aftermath was the line of people that snaked around buildings.  They weren't in line to collect for handouts; they were in line to donate blood.

Everywhere I looked, the feeling that resonated through the TV screen was: "We're Americans, damnit, and we're going to get through this."

The song "The Change" says it best:

"I hear them saying: 'You'll never change things...
No matter what you do it's still the same thing.'
But it's not the world that I am changing--
I do this so the world will know that it will not change me."

As we remember September 11 and grieve for all the lives that were lost, instead of just focusing on how terrible this world can be to itself, let's focus on how people have risen above it... and let's continue rising.

The Change

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