Most people remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard about the attack on our nation in New York. I was attending a CDC training in Palm Beach County, Florida. We heard about a “plane crash” over lunch but that was it. As I drove home, I listened in horror to NPR giving the grizzly details of what occurred and the chaos that ensued to save lives in the World Trade Center.
Firefighters, police officers, and paramedics were there first, serving their community. You hear story after story of ordinary people, with no training, who became first responders, running towards the devastation to shepherd others out. Some lived past that day but so many did not.
I had to dig out my Time magazine and newspapers I saved from September 12, 2001. The most gut wrenching images, for me, are of the people trapped in the burning buildings who decided that jumping out was a better alternative to what awaited them inside. There was a man and woman caught holding hands as they jumped to their demise. I still cannot fathom the hellish circumstances that could lead to such a decision.
The rallying cry of our nation was unified and resolved to help one another. The response from every state was overwhelming and clogged all highways that lead to New York! The names of every person lost has been read aloud in nationwide memorial events. Twenty years have come and gone and where are we? “Unified” is not the adjective that comes to mind when I consider the state of our nation.
But…..
I remember those who perished.
I remember those who served and perished.
I remember those who served and survived.
I remember those who rallied from across our great nation.
I remember the hope we had then and still have now.
May we never forget.
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