Remembering 9/11

I remember, in vivid detail, where I was on this day, 5 years ago, when the first plane hit the first tower at the World Trade Center. I had just moved here, and Aaron and I were on our way to work. We were just about at his office when the tone changed on the radio announcer's voice as he informed us of the impending doom. Our first thoughts (thanks to the JW way of thinking) were that it was Armaggedon. God was putting the motions in place.

After I got to my housekeeping job, the second plane hit, and I couldn't keep my eyes away from CNN. The fear I felt was unlike any feeling I had ever experienced. That night I got frantic phone calls from my family, not realizing how far away from New York I lived. They were worried sick. Aaron and I shared a house at the time with his grown nephew and girlfriend. The 4 of us sat around the tv and got just drunk enough to make the tragedies seem surreal. We watched around the clock coverage of the Pentagon damage, the Pennysilvania crash, and of course, we saw the images of the planes hitting the buildings over and over. We watched in horror as they replayed people jumping from the buildings to certain death, and people running from the falling debris. We saw the estimated death toll rise, and people desperately looking for loved ones. All of us sat there in silence, drink in hand, wondering if it really was the beginning of the end. I will never forget that day.

Here we are in 2006, still "fighting the war on terror," as Mr. Bush likes to phrase it. Bin Laden and much of Al Quaida remain on the loose,(as more terror groups emerge) but we've massacred Iraq (which I won't even touch on today) and threatened Iran. There was a time, shortly after 9/11, when I thought Bush was going to be our hero. Turns out he just added fuel to the fire, and we, the US, are in way over our heads. So much has changed, yet so much remains the same.