Twenty One Years Ago Today

Does it seem like it happened twenty one years ago? Do you remember where you were? Because I do. I was teaching in my classroom. My class had left the room and the front office called to tell me what was going on. I quickly turned on the television as there weren’t any students in the room and watched the South Tower of the World Trade Center fall in real time. It was surreal to me and I remember how my mind couldn’t quite grasp the reality of what I was seeing at that very moment.

Students came back in for the next class I was teaching and I had to remain calm, but I was a little more than shaky. Luckily, at that time my students were still blissfully unaware of what was occurring and we forged on, business as usual. By later in the day word had spread as parents had come to take their children safely home. We had many parents who worked in NYC at the time and many at the World Trade Center. Some of those parents never came home, which was a tragedy that as a community we all mourned, along with their families.

I remember how my Mom used to talk about the day that JFK was shot and how everyone remembered that day and where they were. I feel that 9/11 is similar especially for those of us on the East Coast. It changed our world in ways that we still feel today…twenty one years later.

I still get teary on this day. I don’t know why, but I do. So on this quiet Sunday morning, I ask that you take a few moments in stillness with me for all of the souls who passed in this tragedy and for all of those who were so affected by it.

We have not forgotten. You are always remembered. God bless.

Shine On!

xo

Sept 11

Do you remember where you were seventeen years ago today?  I remember my Mom telling me that everyone knew where they were when JFK was shot.  Now I believe our generational history continues with “Where were you on 9/11?”

Because it seems to me, most of the people of a certain age know full well where they were when they heard about the tragedy that occurred on September 11, 2001.  In our area especially, we know of families who lost loved ones, who endured unspeakable tragedy and who witnessed the atrocities associated with that day.  They are ever emblazoned on many hearts, minds and souls.

There is also another side to the tragedy when we try to look at the light of compassion, of helpfulness, of unity that occurred through that experience.  Strangers helping strangers.  People going beyond their limits to save someone else.  All of the unmistakable soulful connections that came from the irrevocable losses that occurred from the tragedy.

Remembering those whom we lost as the bells toll in NYC today, the names read of those souls who were unable to return home to their loved ones that day.  The unfurling of our flag at the Pentagon Memorial in Arlington, VA.  The tears that many of us still shed on this day, even so many years later.

There’s a heaviness in the air today as the skies weep rain.  Those whom we lost are never forgotten.  Those heroes who gave their lives to help others.  Their angelic light continues to remain in the memories of our hearts.

May God Bless Us All.

Shine On!

xo

Hero – Word of the Day