This post is about 9/11.

Picture courtesy of Wally Gobetz on Flickr

I remember where I was that day.  It was just another typical day in Biology, first period, with Coach Ham as a freshman in high school.  

Here's how I found out...

Towards the end of class...someone from Student Council interrupts Coach Ham giving a lecture (oh how he dislikes that).  Ms. StudentCouncil told Coach Ham to turn on the TV because there was an "airplane crash in New York City at one of the Twin Towers."   I remember Coach Ham's reaction...a loud "whaaaaat? are you kidding me? -kind of annoyed-," but he still turned on the TV to CNN.  And we were all staring at footage of the first WTC tower that got hit with smoke billowing from its wound.  Of course, none of us in the room knew what exactly just happened.  We could only speculate why a plane would crash into a tower.  

Believe it or not, Coach Ham wanted to finish up with class so after 10 minutes of watching CNN, he turned the TV off and continued on.  Something about ATP or mitochondria what-have-you.  But I doubt anyone, myself included, focused on the lecture because we were all thinking about what happened in NYC.

After class and during passing period, it seemed like everyone was talking about it.  My next class was Speech/Communications.  The teacher realized how important this developing news was...and she only lectured half of the class and turned on CNN for the rest of the class period.  By that time, the second plane had already crashed into the other tower.  We were all like, "wait what?! another plane crashed?"...clearly, no accident.  Newscasters only speculating and giving updates as they learned it, but no one knew what was really going on.  I'm not sure if we caught the news covering how the Pentagon got hit as well.  I think I heard about that crash after getting home that day.

I don't remember watching more news that day during school, but I know we definitely talked about it throughout the day.  

And geez, it seemed like everything I heard about that day in the days following just made it worse and worse and the the sucky part is...it was all true.  

I remember feeling sad about all those lives lost...  I mean, who wasn't? 

I was freaked out a bit because I had actually stood on top of one of the towers when I was younger (around the time when subway bombings was a thing in the early 90's). 

To be honest, in the wake of the attacks...after a while, I didn't think about it much anymore.  I have no personal connections with the tragedy.  None of my family was living in the New England area at the time.  However, the repercussions of the 9/11 attacks affected me indirectly.  I'm an American Airlines kid, and I flew frequently thanks to flight benefits.  Obviously, everything about airport security and airport life changed as a result of the attacks.  But other than that...not much else personally...

My senior year of high school, I had the opportunity to go to New York City as part of a band trip.  I had the privilege of visiting Ground Zero and a little church across from the site that had artifacts from the rubble and showcased volunteer efforts.  I dunno...I felt something.  To actually be at the site where it happened 4 years after-the-fact...that made it more personal to me.  Not only that, but...Ground Zero...it felt... different out there.  I can't quite explain it.  Either way, it was a unique experience that I'm glad I had the opportunity.

For a majority of typing this post, I was watching 9/11 specials on the History Channel and an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition episode that helped out a man who rescued officers.  This morning I heard the Kidd Kraddick In The Morning show reflecting on that day, but they brought up a point that I agree with--it's kind of painful to see all that footage (again, in some cases) but...it serves as an important reminder of what happened.  Since I have no personal connections to the tragedy, it's hard for me to grasp everything about that day and seeing all that footage and hearing stories over the radio makes me sad.  But in the end, it makes me cherish life that much more because you never know when it can be taken away--either your own or a loved one.

And yes, there was a great amount of patriotism following the attacks.  The Texas Aggies decided to do it the best way they know how.  Gosh, I love being an Aggie. O:-)

From Wikipedia...

"on September 22, 2001, the first game for the Aggies after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the students organized a "Red, White and Blue-Out." Students assigned each deck a different color (red on third deck, white on second deck, and blue on first deck) to wear for the game against Oklahoma State. Despite the short notice, attendees followed the instructions, resulting in a red, white, and blue stadium. More than $150,000 was raised in shirt sales, which was donated to FDNY charities."

In conclusion...

My Facebook status for 9/11 was:

It doesn't matter who you are, what you believe in...human suffering is inevitable. But the important thing to know about human suffering is that we have the capacity to overcome and be greater than we once were. Today we remember those lives lost and thank the countless individuals who aided in recovery. We will never forget. 9/11/01 was a severe blow, but USA, no matter how much her people suffers...she comes back ever greater.