Never Forget.

Since I've had a baby, my memory is shot. I say things and 5 minutes later I forget saying them. I walk into a room and can't remember why I'm there. I open Google and then immediately forget what I wanted to search for (this may be the most frustrating one of all...) But there is a grey Wednesday morning that is seared into my memory for all time.

When I awoke on the morning of September the 12th, 2001, I remember hearing the TV and thinking, "that's strange, we're never allowed to have the TV on when we're getting ready for school." Even stranger was hearing my Dad's voice drifting up from the lounge. Normally, my father would have already left for work by the time I woke up. Next thing I knew Mum was dragging me out of bed, saying that something had happened in New York and I needed to see.

 

I remember staring at the gaping holes in the Twin Towers - buildings that, up until that morning, I had never heard of before. I remember being sleepy and confused, wondering what this Pentagon thing was that they kept talking about, if it was the name of one of the Towers. I remember the rumbling roar of the collapse, and the tidal wave of dust and debris that rolled through lower Manhattan. I remember being terrified.

 

Fourteen years later, and while I have a far greater understanding and appreciation of the events of 9/11, sometimes it still feels like I'm that 12 year old girl, sleep still in her eyes, standing in front of the TV while her dad swore and her mum cried.

I don't know if I'll ever truly grasp what happened that awful day - it still doesn't seem real - but I know that I will never forget. I'll never forget praying for the victims in my Religion class, hoping that they would come home safely to their families. I'll never forget overhearing a conversation between two teachers, discussing the supposed shortage of body bags in New York. I'll never forget my younger brother and sister - only 7 and 5 at the time - asking me, weeks after the attack, why there were still no kids shows on TV, why every channel was still showing these tall buildings on fire. I'll never forget the pain, the fear, the grief.

But I will also never forget witnessing the best of humanity on display. Strangers comforting each other on the street. Men and women, caked in ghostly white dust, walking back into the pile of twisted steel to search for survivors through the night. Even an act as simple as passing around a cell phone so that people could reassure their families that they were OK. As much as 9/11 opened my eyes to the evil that exists in the world, it also reassured me that there are always people willing to help their fellow man. I learnt that the only way to drive away the darkness is with love and light.
 

My thoughts and prayers are with the loved ones of the 2,977 people who never came home that day. They live on in the hearts and minds of millions.

 

I would also like to make special mention of the men and women who gave their lives trying to save others in the Towers. When others were running out, you ran in. We thank and honour you for your sacrifice.