A Tribute in Light - Remember 9/11

Comments

[GTthe4th]

Twenty years.

It's been twenty years since that day. I was almost 4 when it happened, so I don't remember what I was doing that day, but I do remember one thing --- one of my brothers, who was living on his own at the time, called home and asked my dad in a horrified and scared voice if the world was ending. I know that sounds silly looking back, but a little part in the back of my mind wonders...

I think that day was actually the day the world did end, in a subtle way. It's a slow end, not often noticed by many, but ever since then the spiral keeps going downward, not up. People are colder to each other, families aren't as close, and politics are even more heated than ever. Suddenly everyone around us was an enemy and couldn't be trusted. Violence became even more commonplace. And now look at us: millions dead worldwide because so many people can't trust others, or refuse to listen.

Two towers and many innocent people fell that day, and yes, I truly believe the world as we knew it fell with them. Or at the very least, 9/11 was the herald to the slow end.

May God forever bless the first responders who ran into danger to save others, may He forever bless the souls of those who died, and may He forever forgive what has happened in the 20 years that followed.

[iowaforever]

5580643 From a historian's standpoint, anyway, 9/11 is considered the end of the 20th Century, if not from a chronological then from a cultural and historical view. The optimism and "consensus" mindset that was prevalent in the 90s got replaced by fear and paranoia, and the rise of social media has made things all the worst. Is it as bad as other points in history? Maybe, but maybe that's because the bad stuff happens to have a louder voice than the good stuff. After all, a lot of people felt the 80s would be the end with the US and Soviets ramping up their arms race to dangerous levels, but that ended up fizzling out with the Belin Wall, the Soviets getting kicked out of Afghanistan and ultimately the collapse of the Eastern Bloc.

I believe there is opportunity and a chance to turn away from fear and paranoia, and to some extent we are rounding that corner. It's just that the voices that want you to be outraged and angry are very loud, so that corner might be a very wide one.

I wasn't much older than you when all this went down (I was six), and I remember hearing that my aunt was scheduled to work at the Twin Towers that day (she missed her train). My parents still have photos of one of our trips to NYC in '99, with my Sister and I standing in front of the Towers- they're kind of eerie nowadays. I thank God for those that sacrificed their lives then and now, and pray that in time we can finish healing and move towards a brighter future.