There's a lot I could write about this week, having gone to This Is the Place park and having fed the missionaries on Labor Day, working long hours, and going camping in Fillmore this weekend.
But with church, a CES fireside, my grandparents visiting for fresh peach pie, and having to be at work at 7:00 tomorrow morning, I don't have time.
However, Labor Days, missionaries, historical sites, Fillmore Canyon, cemeteries, and long work hours come and go. But ten-year anniversaries don't, and I think I'd forever regret it if I didn't say something about 9/11.
I found my old journal for my entry of September 11, 2001. I rarely wrote in my journal then; my previous entry was March 17, 00, and my next entry was Sunday, January 6, 2002. (Which makes me realize I need to start writing in my current journal again.) Anyway, I knew it would be a significant day, so I wrote on that day. (I was really bad about spaces. I'll type my entry as it appears, except that I'll put in spaces. I knew where they belonged. You just couldn't tell that I put them there.)
Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001
Today was the "second Pearl Harbor". Terrorists, most likely from th Middle East, got on a plane, killed the crew, and crashed into a World Trading Center tower. Several others were smashed into, and so was part of the pentagon. In the Middle East people were cheering.
I was not quite thirteen, early on in my seventh grade school year. I don't remember what my first two periods were (gym and Spanish?), but my third period was pre-algebra with Mrs. Sorensen. Mrs. Sorensen also taught eighth-grade U.S. history, so we talked about what was going on. That was the first I had heard of it. That was still early on, so there were all the rumors flying around; one girl kept insisting a high school had also been bombed. My fourth period science teacher, Mr. Brower, just turned on the news. That's all we did all period. I think I was walking home from the bus stop, and some neighbors, the Craigs, picked me up and took me home and asked if I had heard what happened. Of course I had. I think I was the first one home, so I opened up the Deseret News (it was still an afternoon paper then) and saw the headline "AMERICA UNDER ATTACK!" with the picture of the smoking towers.
I don't remember what I felt then. This week, there have been lots of stories about people who lost family members in it. These stories are so heart-wrenching. I feel so fortunate and blessed that I haven't had to go through any of that. I even feel guilty--why should I be spared when others have to go through such hard times? I know that's ridiculous, but that's how I feel.
I remember that all the major news stations showed nothing but news for at least three days straight. Which meant I couldn't watch The Simpsons.
I remember there was a sudden increase in patriotism. Suddenly people had red, white, and blue decorations up all the time. There were flag-colored Christmas lights. There were patriotic candies--red, white, and blue M&Ms, star-shaped Peeps with red and blue pieces, and others. Many of these candies continued to be made for the Fourth of July for years after, but most are no longer made. I was even more OCD then than I am now, and I had strange rules that if I saw a holiday decoration up before I started the holiday season, I would bump up the day I started. There were so many patriotic decorations that in 2002 I decorated for the Fourth of July in early April. (For 2003 I realized that was excessive and waited until Memorial Day, which I've done ever since--plus I don't go by that silly rule anymore.)
My brother David was on his mission in Taiwan. When we finally got his letter (this was before missionary email), he said he had heard about it. But I remember after he got home he finally got to see the footage, and it wasn't what he had expected (in a bad way).
Now, Osama is dead. We still have a long way for Islam to be welcomed, but I think it's better than it was. I'd like to think we're on our way to world peace. But that, of course, would be the biggest case of denial ever.
Why can't everyone just play nice?
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