story2884.xml

story2884.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I listened to the radio all day but I remember not turning the T.V. on until late afternoon. I did not want to see what I had heard about. After seeing the images for the first time, I needed to get some air. I went out on my back porch. I was wondering why we were bringing another life into to such a scary, horrible place. (I was five months pregnant at the time.) How could we explain the actions of such hate to our two-year old and soon-to-come-along son when the time came? I was quite overcome with grief and anger. Then, I turned and looked out into our yard and noticed a beautiful bloom on a crepe myrtle I thought was near death. It had been run over by a lawn mover earlier that year yet here it was in all its glory! I remembered there was still beauty and peace in the world and we would teach our children about those concepts as well. The irony of the blooming crepe myrtle was its name: America.