My parents grew up in the generation that could tell you exactly what they were doing the day JFK was shot. My mom was working in Berkeley, California when she tried to use the phone and was told none of the employees could use the phones. How odd - within 30 minutes, talk was spreading like wildfire that the President had been shot! Within another hour everyone was sent home in shock learning their President had died. And I am part of the adult generation who can tell you exactly what they were doing the day two airplanes flew into the Twin Towers.
I was making the bed in our master bedroom and hadn’t had the TV on all morning when I got a call from my husband. His tone told me something horrific and huge had just happened as he said, “Christie, do you have the news on right now? Turn the TV on! You’re not going to believe it!” As I turned on the Today Show I remember seeing the footage of the first airplane flying into one of the buildings and thinking …. How can this be real? What on earth is going on? I remember calling him back and both of us reeling in shock and fighting the tears.
As the day unraveled, I learned of the third plane that crashed into the Pentagon ... And then the fourth plane that didn’t make it to Washington, DC because of some amazing heroic American citizens! It was terribly hard to make sense of all the emotions and conflicting thoughts.
“How could anybody penetrate our country’s intelligence and defense?”“Lord, please keep people alive in that rubble until help gets there.”“I want vengeance and I want it now.”“Where can I get an American flag for my car, my house, my yard?”“I need to call my family and tell them how much each one means to me.”“I feel utterly vulnerable.”“I can’t stop hurting for all the breaking hearts that have no one coming home tonight.”“What senseless tragedy!”
Personally, I don’t believe that life is fair or always makes sense. But I do believe that each of us can learn and can grow from every experience in our lifetime. So, instead of remembering what each of us was doing the moment 9/11 became historical, I want to remember what I’ve learned from that day and how I can be a better woman because of living through it.
~ I have learned that security doesn’t come from believing your borders are impregnable. True security is found within me. His name is Jesus.
~ I have been challenged to be willing to stand against anyone or anything that wants to hijack my life … even if it means dying in the process.
~ And I have been reminded that each day is not a right but a gift – and my greatest gifts are the ones that I come home to every night!
What about you? What were you doing on 9/11? But even more importantly, what have you learned from 9/11?
CHRISTIE LEE RAYBURN
Among the countless emotions tumbling about in my head, the thing that stood out most was the quiet. I was working at a private airport and the silence (due to a complete halt on all air traffic) was deafening. Never had that sound been heard before on the ramp. Not one single hum of an engine or chatter over the radios. An odd, eery sound...
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