I fancy myself a wordsmith, but nothing I can write would fully express my emotions on September 11, 2001. Seven years ago, I was working in a second grade classroom. Our monarch butterflies had just hatched and we were about to give them their freedom when the news came in. We said nothing to the children to spoil their wonder and joy at the cycle of life. Elsewhere, there was wonder but no joy, and many lives were coming to a terrible end.
We lifted the screen from the terrarium. After a few false starts, the butterflies left their asters and milkweed pods and flew into the sky. The irony was not lost to me that amidst life and innocence, there is death and sin.
Life is unpredictable. Sometimes we forget how precious and finite our time on earth is while we are weighted down with real or imagined problems. So today, hug a child, marvel at a butterfly. Love the one you're with. Remember.
8 comments:
I think everyone remembers where they were, and what they were doing when those buildings were hit.
I thought it was a joke, you know. You just don't think something so horrible can happen.
Thanks for helping me remember in a gentle way. Like Tiffany says, I recall how one person, on hearing the first reports of total building collapse, flatly stated it wasn't possible from an engineering pov and the reporter got it wrong. It was just too much to wrap one's mind around, so the mind rejected it outright.
I remember exactly where I was and every minute of that day, too. It seemed so unreal, especially when the second plane hit the tower. At the time, I worked in an office whose main centre was located in the World Trade Center buildings, and people were calling their friends and family to make sure they made it out. It was horrible and seeing those images on tv just made you shudder.
I just read that one of the survivors (a janitor), who helped save another, committed suicide last week. Some people don't make it, even if they survived.
9/11 is one of those days that will always live with us and has changed us, for better or worse.
Thanks for reminding us to remember, Maggie. More thanks for reminding us that butterflies and innocence still exist even in a world too often filled with horror and loss.
Beautifully said, Maggie.
I, too, remember where I was, the chaos and the total disbelief. My sister likened it to the late 60's and the assassinations - feeling as if the world was out of control and everyone felt as if the rug had been pulled out from underneath them.
The saddest part was the loss of innocence of so many young people. I know I've always tried to shelter my kids and protect them from some of the more harsher realities. 9/11 made that impossible. Now they talk about it every year in school and they are aware of the worst this world has to offer. Thanks for reminding us to concentrate on the best.
One of my best friends worked in one of the World Trade buildings. After the attacks, there was no cell service anywhere and we couldn't find her. My girlfriends were all calling each other, seeing if anyone had heard from her, crying and terrified. Later she called to tell us that she walked across the Brooklyn Bridge covered in dust.
I also went to the city afterwards with water and supplies donated by a local grocery. Even before we got to the bridge, we saw the smoke in the sky, three days later. I've never seen anything like it and I doubt I'll ever forget those images, of the lights on the smoke against the black night. We had to take the supplies to the piers and people were standing along the road holding signs that said, "thank you heroes" and other stuff like that and cheering as each ambulance or fire truck drove by. It was surreal.
Beautiful blog, Maggie. I was at a nearly packed house concert last night. When a voice from the stage asked for a moment of silence, you could have heard a pin drop. It was as if someone had pulled the plug it got quiet so quickly.
I think it's safe to say, no one has forgotten.
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