America - 10 Years After 9-11

America – 10 Years After 9-11

Melissa Dallago

            You may or may not have been born the day that America was attacked.  If you were born prior to 9/11/01, you will vividly remember that fateful Tuesday.  You will remember where you were when America was so violently attacked.  You will remember how you felt, what you were thinking, whether or not you whether or not you saw the second plane strike the second World Trade Tower.  You will remember the horror and pain that you felt that 3,000 Americans were murdered.  You will remember the prayers uttered, and the tears wept for the loss our nation had suffered.  You will remember the heroic measures that the NY Firemen went to to try and rescue people from the towers.  You will remember the haunting calls that were played on the radio of the flight traffic control trying to raise Flight 93 after it had crashed into the lonely Pennsylvania field.  You will remember the terror at the fact that the heart of our nation was struck by a plane, the Pentagon.  You will remember watching the Twin Towers falling, bringing the demise of those still trapped inside.  You will remember the days after 9/11 and the rescue efforts of those working at the site to try to recover the living and wounded from the wreckage.  You will remember all the terror, all the pain, and the outrage, and most importantly the pride that you felt in your fellow countrymen as we as a nation ran to help the fallen, and their families.  Hopefully you will remember the compassion you felt for your family, friends, and neighbors, and even strangers on the street.  You will remember that we were awoken in the most violent manner possible.   We were angry, emotionally crushed, but our spirit, that American spirit, was not broken, but rose from a horrible tragedy and banded us together as a great nation once more. 

            If you were not born before that fateful day, then I wish you can hope to understand the terror and fear that your elders faced.  But most of all I hope you understand and take heart to the lessons of pride, unity, strength and courage that we all conveyed both individually and as a nation in the face of a world that was forever changed that fateful day.  You were born post 9/11.  You were born into a very different world, and 9/11/01 is a date that will live in infamy as a horrible day, but it is also the day that we all showed the world that America has “the Right Stuff.”

            I was born in 1975.  I remember quite well where I was that day.  I remember hearing a breaking news announcement on the radio saying that a plane had just struck one of the towers in the World Trade Center.  I remember running to the television and tuning to the local news channel and watching in horror as the plane's tail hung out of the side of the building and the fire raged.  I remember sitting glued to the TV, and at the time I didn't realize it, but I watched the second plane strike the second tower.  My mouth gaped open in horror.  I remember hearing the other frantic news saying that another plane had been flown into the Pentagon, and lastly, I remember the news of Flight 93 crashing into the field.  I remember having an almost out of body experience that these events were not real, but were a dream.  I remember the tears that fell down my face as I watched the Twin Towers falling in on themselves in New York, and realizing that people had still been inside as they fell.  The death count spiraled up as high as an estimate of 7,000 people gone suddenly and so violently.  My heart bleed for those people and for their families.  My heart was broken for the horrible tragedy that our nation had just suffered.  I remember crying as they played the national anthem on the radio.  I also remember watching the congressmen gathering on the front steps of the Capitol Building and signing our national anthem.  As I was driving home that evening after work, I remember seeing a man waving the American flag high over his head, and the tears and pride that washed over me at the sight.  I also remember the rainbow that I saw shining in the sky after a rain storm, as if God was crying for our torn nation.  As I saw that rainbow, I remember that a small shred of hope was ignited in my beaten heart.  That rainbow was God's promise that it would not happen again, and that we would overcome the terror.