“Today, we gather to be reassured that God hears the lamenting and bitter weeping of Mother America because so many of her children are no more. Let us now seek that assurance in prayer for the healing of our grief stricken hearts, for the souls and sacred memory of those who have been lost. Let us also pray for divine wisdom as our leaders consider the necessary actions for national security, wisdom of the grace of God that as we act, we not become the evil we deplore.” - Rev. Nathan Baxter, Dean of Washing National Cathedral (09/14/2001)
Ten years later, the images of 9-11 are still very vivid for me. Like most who are old enough to remember, I can recall all my actions and reactions as our America was under attack. I remember listening to my favorite country station in Michigan as I was heading down Telegraph Road toward work and hearing that a plane had crashed into the North Tower. I remember arriving at work minutes later and joining my co-workers in front of the television and gasping with them as the second plane hit the South Tower.
The memory of seeing the first tower collapse at 9:59 a.m. makes my heart sink ten years later. I feel like the news reports, interviews and photographs of that September day have been burned into my brain. I'm still mesmorized when a documentary is on television. It makes me sad that at the end of one of the ones I recently watched, someone interviewed said "9-11 will become a date on the calendar just as the attacks on Pearl Harbor have."
Whether we want to admit it or not, normalcy has returned -- at least what has become normal. When you look down most streets the American flag is a permanent display on only a few houses. Our children and those born after September 11, 2001 will never truly understand the impact of one of the only attacks that have happened on our soil.
May God bless America today and always.
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