Terror never forgotten 9/11/01

Seventeen years ago
our world was changed forever...
the sense of peace
perhaps a bit of arrogance
that things like this
couldn't possibly happen
to us, on these shores
shook all of us
to the very core...
-
I wasn't there
that fateful day...
I watched events unfold
from a T.V. at work
stomach churning, tears in my eyes
unable to comprehend
what I was seeing...
only wanting to gather my kids
and hold them tight
fearful of what else was coming...
-
Thousands lost their lives
that day
innocent people
going about their day
doing their jobs...
first responders, travelers, traders, secretaries,
people who cooked, cleaned, maintained
these buildings...
all walks of life
all age groups
the color of their skin
their beliefs and thoughts
gone
ceasing to physically exist
over some one else's beliefs...
-
Some chose to jump...
knowing how it would end
for them...
"they weren't choosing whether to die,
they were choosing how to die"
no-one knows what goes on
in one's head
when they are facing death...
how scared so many
must have been
knowing there wasn't a way out
standing on a ledge, flames, smoke, debris
swirling around...
buildings in turmoil
chaos all around...
-
so many hero's that day
total strangers coming together
some doing the job
they were trained to do
others just helping
their fellow man...
courage under fire
facing the unimaginable...
-
in the days following
these attacks
a nation mourned...
we also came together as one
for once
help poured in from across
the country
from the world....
first responders, medical teams,
heavy construction teams
volunteers from every walk of life
joining in
one collective, one goal
help, search, rebuild
to show these people
you can knock us to our knees
but you won't destroy us...
-
I won't forget that day
it is forever seared in my heart
the images, the destruction,
the loss of so many souls
on that fateful day...
it changed me
my complacency over what
I thought was
will never be
forever altered
over another's beliefs...

The quotes in this came from USA TODAY. None of the people who jumped to their death were ruled as suicides. I mainly concentrated on the World Trade Centers in this write. Not to take away from the people who lost their lives in the planes that crashed in Pennsylvania or the Pentagon. I remember in the days following how strangely quiet the skies were because of the no flying. Where I worked we were in a flight route, so to look up and not see anything was really unsettling. I think here in Metro Detroit where we have the largest middle eastern population in the U.S., no one was quite sure what was going to happen. Fear causes people to do stupid things to other people because they look different. Thankfully everyone kept their cool, tense times all around...