Six years ago today I was at the office when a colleague called and told me that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I immediately tried logging into news websites, which were, of course, slow due to increased traffic.
Life was the same, at that moment. Bad things happened -- planes occassionaly crashed into buildings. People died tragically in all sorts of circumstances.
It was when I saw the smoke rising from the second tower that I knew our world had changed. This was no accident. A tragedy, yes, but not one born from a careless mistake or faulty part. Other human beings were attacking us on our own land. Human beings filled with enough pain and hatred to kill us.
There was silence on the radio after the first tower fell. I wondered where the federal building was downtown, and if I should pick up my child from school.
I must not forget that day, ever. The shock, the silence of the empty skies for days afterwards, the furtive glances as we boarded a plane to Florida several weeks later. I must never allow my pain to become so great that I would strike out at another person in anger.
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” Mother Teresa
Life was the same, at that moment. Bad things happened -- planes occassionaly crashed into buildings. People died tragically in all sorts of circumstances.
It was when I saw the smoke rising from the second tower that I knew our world had changed. This was no accident. A tragedy, yes, but not one born from a careless mistake or faulty part. Other human beings were attacking us on our own land. Human beings filled with enough pain and hatred to kill us.
There was silence on the radio after the first tower fell. I wondered where the federal building was downtown, and if I should pick up my child from school.
I must not forget that day, ever. The shock, the silence of the empty skies for days afterwards, the furtive glances as we boarded a plane to Florida several weeks later. I must never allow my pain to become so great that I would strike out at another person in anger.
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” Mother Teresa
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