story9347.xml

story9347.xml

born-digital

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2003-06-15

My World Stood Still
There are moments scattered throughout history that define a generation. Moments that fundamentally change our society as a whole, and more significantly, each of us as individuals. Pearl Harbor. Kennedy's assasination. "One small step" on the moon. The Challenger explosion. And now, September 11th.
I find it hard to recall specific memories of that day. Instead I have a collection of vivid images; a mental collage leading up to two months when, for me, the world truly stood still.
....watching live as the second plane was swallowed by the second tower in a burst of flame....the clouds of ash billowing as the towers collapsed....the gaping hole in the pentagon....the wreckage of a plane in a lonely Pennsylvania field. It all took on such a surrealistic quality - these weren't the events of real life, but of Hollywood movies. Reality simply couldn't have any bearing on what Dan Rather and the other media voices of our generation were showing us on television. After all, how does one wrap their mind around 3,000 lives being lost in one fell swoop? If we add up every person we've ever known, its probably not half of that. 3,000? How does one fathom the knowledge of that many lives extinguished in an instant: the suddenly parentless children, the husbands and wives widowed, the childless parents? How does one count the tears?
Everywhere you went, any direction you looked, you found fear, uncertainty, confusion. Strangers gathered in stores, gas stations, on the street. Not only to talk, but to feel the comfort of human companionship. Phones lines were overwhelmed. We called our friends, our families. Even those nowhere near New York - simply to make sure they were safe.
I watched a nation go through the grieving process that first day and night. The shock, the pain, the tears, the anger. Noone I knew died in the tragedy, or was directly affected. But like everyone else I grieved as well.
That evening, like everyone else, I ran to the gas pumps. Waiting in line that stretched for blocks. I stood beside my car, my wife at my side, our children in our arms, and listened on the radio as the president addressed a nation buried in fear. Every radio in every car was turned up, and his voice seemed to pour from the heavens. For the first time in my life, the world truly stood still. An elderly couple in the car next to us held tightly to each other. Behind us, a yound black couple stood together, hand in hand. A group of teenagers, a medley of piercings and hair colors, stood silent as well. People from all walks of life, converged upon a random place, united, silently clinging to one another as the world seemingly came apart around us. Age, race, and social status had finally become obsolete, albeit briefly. In a world based on 'hustle and bustle', something had finally happened drastic enough that even the very hands of time were forced to stop and take notice.
September 12th arrived, and just as it had each morning since the dawn of time, the sun came up. 'The day after' had begun. People started to realize that the world was not ending, and that life must go on. Our president, shedding his cloak of controversy, became the leader he had to be,and told us to go about our lives as usual, that life must continue. And I, like most others, listened. I went to work.
Driving through a major city, I witnessed something that, for the second time in as many days, caused my world to briefly stand still. Driving through this, and average midwestern city, I saw, each time I glanced up as I passed under an overpass, American flags. Waved by children, their parents, their grandparents. Friends and strangers at the same time, as we all had become. I stuck my arm out the window, two fingers pointed toward the sky in that universal gesture of greeting, unity , and peace. I listened as a radio announcer reported that in New York, there was NO crime. No looting. I heard as people called in, simply to send messages of love, unity, and patriotism to those around them. People I passed on the street no longer tried to avoid eye contact. They said hello, as did I. I shook hands with strangers. An old woman hugged me. We, as a people, were overwhelmed not only with patriotism, but with the love and caring that only comes from shared fear and loss. Halfway through my morning, I realized this wasnt a day for work.
On the way home, the reality of events finally touched home for me. A nation lost its innocence on September 11th. America as a country was no longer invincible; but vulnerable. Never had an enemy dared to cross into our sacred borders - the thought that they could was a blow to the sense of safety and well being of every one of us. No longer were wars a thing we saw on television from half a planet away. They had come into our very front yard. Exposed to the most heinous evil most of us have ever witnessed, we, a nation seemingly predicated on violence and mistrust, responded by coming together. We as a people reached out, and for once in our history, we responded. I learned several things from 9-11. I learned that a hero isn't a visible politician, athlete, or actor. A hero is someone who gives their life for strangers. I learned that while our world seems most of the time to be a cold and lonely place, it truly isn't. Our world has a heart, and it beats deeply in us all. The true tragedy is that is takes something as devastating as this to bring it out.........