Wednesday, September 10, 2003
First of all...
Let's get the 'acceptance' speech out of the way. Thanks to all my Greenheads for the birthday wishes! Massive thanks to all my family that called me. MAD props to all those sweet phone calls I got today, and the one I got yesterday (it was the sweetest) :D
I honestly think this was one of my best birthdays ever, I can't imagine the trip to NY and DC to see Court ever being topped, and I spent a fantastic evening with my parents at The Olive Garden and watching The Order (great movie btw). Now it's time to get in party mode for the weekend!!! La Fiesta de Lacy in El Estacion de Collegio!
But on a more somber note as it always will be from now on. Having a birthday on the day before so many lost their lives definitely keeps one grounded. Another year past and I must confess that having seen it with my own two eyes, yes my perspectives have changed. But I still don't think I have any words right now more fitting than those I wrote on last year's anniversary...
It is so hard for me to believe that one year ago today I was sitting in my dorm room at SFA missing my home, but looking forward to the exciting prospect of legally buying acohol for the rest of my life. One word comes to mind, Innocence. I look back on the past year, the good and the bad, the rough and the smooth, the rebirth of a nation. One year ago today I was still innocent to the hurt and the suffering and the disbelief. I was sitting in my dorm thinking to myself how sad it was that I was away from all my family and all my friends and my home on a day so important to me. Amazing how in less than 12 short hours perspectives can be shattered. My parents generation saw Vietnam and the assassination of JFK. And when you ask them, they will remember EXACTLY what they were doing and where they were when it happened. I will remember EXACTLY what I was doing and where I was when it 9-11 happened.
I was getting ready for class, about to walk out the door, more consumed with what I was going to wear to impress my lab partner than anything else in the world, when the phone rang. I figured it was my Mom so early in the morning so I ran to catch the phone before it woke my roomate. I answered it and Mom said "have you seen the news?" I remember thinking " what in the hell would I be watching the news this early in the morning for?" "No" I said, "Why?" "A plane just crashed into one of the World Trade Towers and I think one crashed into the Pentagon ." I imediately turned on the TV to see what this was all about. I couldn't believe my eyes, and like so many others it seemed just like a scene from Independence Day. I remember watching the Tower fall before I left for class. I walked outside and it was so beautiful, so unreal that our world had change forever. Our teacher let us out, deciding it was more important that we be in front of the television at that moment. I wanted to be with my family so bad, that was the hardest week to see through, I just wanted to be home. All of my teachers that day spoke to us briefly and then told us to go pray.
I look back and think about how this has changed America. Some criticize and say that people are only patriotic because of this event, seems to me that we should just be glad that at least now they are patriotic. It's a wake-up call. I was patriotic before it happened, and even more so now. There have not been many times that I've heard the Anthem at a friday night football game and not teared up. You can't sit back and not question the magnitude of the effect this event had on our country. I will always remember that Bush said in one of his first speeches after it happened that he had wanted to pull America together again and get back to a sense of unity, and that none of his plans could have been as successful in doing this as the result of this attack had been. I think about the courage of those left behind and I don't feel pain for those who were taken. Had America not been given a reason such as this to step up and take control of the terrorism issue, then who knows what horrors would have been in our future. I see those who died as the front line of an army in this war. And who would not give his life to preserve the future of freedom?
This issue is harder for me to think about, talk about, or hear about than it was a year ago. It's as though the reality of it has truly set in. We woke the morning of September 11, 2001, to frightful scenes and horrible stories. We ended that day and the next 364 days with a new appreciation for every beautiful thing we hold dear to us. To have some quick glimpse of how quickly it can be taken, and how much we are hated for all our freedoms, really put it all into perspective.
No, I don't think I'll ever forget. Everytime, I smile, everytime Riley smiles, everytime I see a sunset, drive down the road, listen to the radio, watch a movie, enjoy a dinner, laugh with friends, see my family, go to a concert, drink a beer, paint my nails, read a book, talk on the phone, surf the net, AIM a friend across the world, go swimming, go fishing, go hunting, go on a cruise, buy new clothes, take a picture, everytime I do these everyday things that are so familiar, I will remember.
God Bless America
God Bless our Troops
God Bless our President
♥Oh, so vintage... 11:11 PM
