We all know that this week marked the 17th anniversary of the terrorist attack on America which happened on Tuesday September 11, 2001. It seems strange to me to use the word anniversary when it’s a day that we remember and reflect upon the horrific act of terrorism that was committed and all the lives that ended on that day. On that Tuesday morning, in September 2001, I was 19 years old working at an elementary school as a teacher’s assistant, living confused, not knowing what I really wanted to do with my life or understanding what direction God was leading my life into. I’m sure just like me, on that morning most Americans were going about their daily routine and an act of terrorism was not on the list of things on any of our minds. Seventeen years later we probably all keep the possibility of another attack happening in America on our minds, although one has not occurred in this country. Since that morning in 2001 terrorist attacks have become a common thing in this world we live in.

Every year since September 11, 2001, I find myself watching the commemoration ceremonies when the relatives of the victims who perished when the twin towers fell read each of their names aloud. Even though so many years have gone by I imagine it doesn’t get any easier for the family members to endure that ceremony on the grounds where their beloved family and friends so tragically died. Seventeen years later just watching the ceremony on television it’s just as heartbreaking as watching the first commemoration ceremony was and it still brings tears to my eyes.I sit and watch the video footage of the planes flying into the twin towers and the two buildings ultimately collapsing and crumbling while all those people were still inside. All these years later I don’t think that image will ever not make me cry. I always find myself trying to imagine what all those people must have been thinking and feeling, being stuck in those buildings. Some of them probably were unaware of exactly what had happened and they didn’t know that death was imminent. Thinking about it now still makes my heart ache but I always hope that the people who met their death in those buildings did not have to suffer a painful death, I honestly hope that their deaths were instant. It always crosses my mind that there may have been even more death if it had not been for those heroic people on Flight 93 who lives ended preventing the last hijacked airplane from getting to the intended target. I can’t imagine the extreme fear the passengers on all four of the hijacked airplanes must have felt. Can you imagine realizing that you are about to die in that horrific way?

The terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001 are on my list of a million things that I ask God “why” about, because I just don’t understand. How can one group of people hate an entire country of people to the extent of actually planning an attack on that country that ended in three thousand deaths. I’m sure we all have met someone who we just don’t like at all, but to hate someone who you’ve never even met so passionately that it makes you want to kill, well, I think I’m glad I don’t know that feeling. I have never wanted to kill or wished death on anyone. I guess maybe I should’ve paid closer attention in my social studies and history classes in school so that I could better understand America’s relationship with it’s enemies.

I realize that grief is a never ending process that the relatives of the victims who perished in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks will always be dealing with, but I hope and pray that each of them has found a way to find some peace and solace when they remember their loved ones.

That’s just my perspective!💜