9 short years

image via cnn.com
Nine years later and I still can't fight the tears while I watch the news and memorials after the attacks of 2001 that changed our country and our lives forever. I was a freshman in college in Arkansas. I am from New England and the events literally hit home for my roommate and I who frequently went to New York. That morning she had decided to skip chapel and sleep in. The president of the school got up and told us that we were releasing after a time of prayer. He said that a plane had flown into one of the twin towers in New York City. My very first thought was that it was an accident and I hoped that no one had been hurt. It took awhile for the magnitude of the events to sink in because I knew those towers and I knew that city and never in my life would I imagine anyone attacking our country. I ran back to my room, shook my roommate, who had been my best friend since we were 11, awake and turned on the tv. We watched in shock and immediately called home. My mom was nearly hysterical and kept telling me how much she wished I was home. She had already been in touch with the parents of a good friend of mine because he went to school in Brooklyn and wanted to make sure that he was ok. This day was the beginning of my world changing. The bubble that I lived in was popped and there was a great sense of innocence lost. We became a country that was grieving together, questioning together, and coming together. As difficult as those times were right after we saw a unity that we hadn't seen in a very long time. That unity has since been ripped apart as we are now a country more divided than ever and we need to get back to that. We need to remember, when we are torn apart by political differences, that we are Americans above and beyond party affiliations. I have since had two cousins, several very close friends, and my two brothers who have all joined the military to protect our great country and to prevent this from ever happening again. My baby brother is currently serving in Afghanistan and while there is a part of my that is missing until he returns I am so grateful for all those that haven't forgotten and continue to pray for and support the men and woman and all of their families that are risking and giving their lives for our freedom. We are stronger than the actions of September 11 2001