9/11...10 years later

There are moments in every generation where we all remember where we were, what we were doing and how the emotions of the day took us over. For my grandparents it was Pearl Harbor, for my parents it was the Kennedy assassination, and for my generation its 9/11. Sad, that we all have such horrible events that have marked us and changed our way of life.

Just thinking about the memories of that day is making me emotional, teary to be honest. Its one of those events that changes everything, that you want to forget and at the same time always remember. 9/11 was a game changer in so many ways, not only did it rob us of so many precious lives - fathers, brother, mothers, sisters, friends & loved ones - but it violated our way of life and left us like a rape victim wounded, angry and shocked by the violence of it all.

I was student teaching 3rd Grade in Grove City, PA at the time of the attacks. When we heard the first of the news reports the kids had just gone off to music so we turned on the TV and stood stunned by the horror of what was unfolding before us.Today, those 3rd graders are starting their freshman year of college and I wonder what their memories are of that day? I wonder if they realize that the world they live in now is so different than the one that "would have been" if 9/11 didn't happen.  Do they, can they, grasp how much that one day changed all of us?

I see the pictures of the kids of 9/11, the ones that weren't born yet and that have since grown up not knowing their dad  because he was killed giving his life for another  - what must go through their young minds?

I'm choosing this day to remember, not the horror and anger, but rather the lives...the ones that were taken much too soon and much too violently.  I'm choosing today to honor them, remember them, and pray for their families.

To hold on to anger about that day, to live a life of bitterness towards those that attacked us, means they won.

I choose to remember the amazing fearlessness of those who ran into those buildings, I choose to celebrate the bravery of the men and women who took a stand on the plane to fight against their attackers and I choose to live a life worthy of being given the gift of breath each morning.  We are only given today...choose to celebrate it and live it with gratitude.