09-11-03
It's hard to believe it's been 2 years since the devastation of September 11th, 2001. I can still remember it like it was yesterday. I was in class when I found out. My Mom called my cell phone telling me planes had hit the twins and that one had collapsed. I didn't quite grasp it at first. I couldn't even comprehend exactly what happened until I saw it on TV about an hour later and saw the huge plume of smoke in the place where the twins used to stand. It would take almost half a year until the full effect of the act. All the people who had been killed for no reason whatsoever.
Also this year, in the days leading up to 9-11, I began thinking about what our children and our children's children will think about that day. To them it'll be a page or two in their history textbook. Think about the last event of this sort and you'd probably think of Pearl Harbor, "the day that will live in infamy." To them, 12-7 was the same as our 9-11. True they were two completely different acts, Pearl Harbor was a military attack on another's military. 9-11 was an attack on civilians. But still, the thoughts afterward were the same. Shock, anger and feelings of revenge. The next day FDR declared war on Japan and entered into World War II. For the US, a month later we declared war on terrorism and I believe entered Afghanastan. After both events there were huge tides of nationalism and pride in their country. People were lining up to join World War II in the truckfuls. After 09-11-01, the same thing happened. People who didn't know each other banded together to support each other.
Of course, this got me thinking. If Pearl Harbor and September 11th can be linked like that, does that mean in 50 years from now as we move away from the event and the people most directly connected to it are senior citizens, will our grandchildren be going to the movies to see "9-11"? I can see it happening too. It's really kind of sickens me to think of this but I can guarentee that will happen. Probably even worse, it will be some sort of shitty love story (See: "Pearl Harbor" and "Titanic"). I'm not trying to be facetious here or anything, but as more time goes along, people will become less and less affected by 9-11. I bet that most people if you told them the date of December 7th, they'd have no idea it was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Will that same thing happen to 9-11? I'd like to think not since the huge effects it had on the entire nation and even world. But a decade from now, there will be a new skyline. Our children will see new buildings. They couldn't understand actually seeing the buildings, two pillars reaching into the sky, getting slammed into by two jet airliners and collapsing. Just like we couldn't understand what our grandparents went through after hearing about and seeing the attacks on Pearl Harbor. I hope people never forget the effects that 9-11 have had on everyone, and they never forget the thousands who lost their lives that day.
God bless all those who lost their lives two years ago today. I hope you're in a better place now.
