I always forget what it feels like to have a cold. The head pain mixed with the slightly off hearing mixed with the heavy breathing makes for quite the weekend. Justin and I both were hit with a cold Saturday morning (his started Friday). It had surely taken away from our weekend a bit -- our moods have been off, our taste-buds have been inflicted, and our bodies have been sore -- yet, we continue on our lesson-planning journey -- and we then reflect on the past.
I hate to even complain on a day such as this: 9/11. J and I watched the Home Makeover edition for a 9/11 officer who saved lives 10 years ago; needless to say, we were quite emotional. It's crazy to think that each American remembers where they were at that time -- it is a collective memory. I was in my Spanish class in 9th grade. Our teacher turned on the television, and we watched the second plane strike the building and the two towers fall. It was unreal.
However, at the time, I don't think I realized what the impact of such a loss was -- or maybe I just forget how I felt that day. I know that after it happened, anytime I heard a plane, I looked up hoping it wouldn't be anything out-of-the-ordinary. I also remember the days they kept planes out of the sky; it was so quiet. Now, however, I see everything differently. It's been ten years (hard to believe), and I look back with the mature eyes I've grown into. I see the families who have lost their husbands, wives, and children -- even pets. I see New York City in a pile of sadness covered with debris and body parts. I hear the screams from the streets that once were, and I envision myself running through the halls of the collapsing building.
It is a much darker memory now, and even though I wasn't there, and I don't really know what it was like, I still feel for the people who were part of it.
We are America, and even though it seems as though we are all living our own individual lives, we have the memory of 9/11 together, and we will never forget.
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