Where Were You?
Some things we take lightly in this forum. I’d really like it for this not to be one of those. 7 years ago, one of the greatest American tragedies took place. And although the politics and even the America that came out of those horrible events are debated and argued over, we owe it to the thousands of innocent people who lost their lives to remember them and live our lives with them in our hearts.
I was only 15 and in my tenth grade at my Jewish day school in Detroit, Michigan. We were actually having an event that day about the upcoming high holidays in which we were learning about repentance and judgement. When the principal announced to the gathered assembly what had occurred, I admit that I was among those that could not believe it. An entire tower? Now two? Just falling down? Impossible. And even though we said prayers for the dead and wounded, the back of my mind still harbored doubts.
It wasn’t until after the assembly when the tv’s were playing the news footage in the school lobby. The news just kept showing those same images over and over. You know the ones I’m talking about. My brain couldn’t even process what I was seeing. Although some of the kids went home, I figured I could feel no better there, and watching my mother cry would only make me feel worse.
I’d like to say that moment changed me, but like most other 15 year olds, life goes on. I didn’t know anyone in the towers. I had only been to New York a few times before those events. If I had been older or living here at the time I’m sure I would have felt differently. It’s not that I didn’t care. It’s that my life just wasn’t impacted the same way other people’s were.
Looking back, it’s easy to see the path that day set for our nation. It’s hard to imagine where we would be if those attacks hadn’t spurned wrath of America. Whether you agree with the aftermath or not, we would all be better off if it had never happened. And not because we wouldn’t be in Iraq. But because a mother could still be tucking in her daughter for bed and kissing her forehead. Because a father could still be hugging his son as he enters the door. Because families could still be together and not have to cry on each strangers’ shoulders. Because 3000 people had lives to live and people who loved them and now they’re gone.
Where were you?
