Thirteen Years Later

9/11/01 will be a day that forever stands out in my mind.  I was in 8th grade in English when I heard about the first plane hitting the WTC and we were watching the news as a class as the second plane hit.

I didn’t want to believe what I was seeing with my own eyes.  The buildings that once stood tall was now crumbling and in flames and the people who’d rather jumped to their deaths than wait for the building to fall.

It seemed like something that only happened in movies.  I never pictured something like that happening in real life, let alone to our country. 

An announcement was made and the student body was informed that we were allowed to call our parents and leave early if needed, and the absence wouldn’t count against us.  It didn’t register to me at the time, but it soon hit me that people thought that Houston could be a target city…especially after the third plane hit the Pentagon and the fourth in Pennsylvania.  I guess people thought that our Space Center and Medical Center made a target for terrorist attacks.  I thanked God that they didn’t.

We might not have agreed on the choice of who was elected president, but we stood as a country behind the decision that was made to launch the war on terror.  And I don’t know about y’all but I definitely felt a sense of closure when it was announced that our brave troops had found, captured and put Bin Laden to death. 

I want to personally thank our heroes who served both stateside and overseas for their dedication and patriotism.  It takes a strong person to put the lives and liberties of millions before themselves.