Remembering Who We Are

As we remembered 9/11/2001, I kept thinking that I can't believe it's been 10 years. Like most Americans, I remember where I was along with the confusion and emotion that came with it. I was a sophomore in high school and my first period class was Spanish. Having never been to NYC, I had no idea what the World Trade Center was or why it was a big deal that it had been hit. I remember feeling worried, scared, and hopeless. Unlike most "cool" teachers who let their students watch the news, mine insisted that we must continue class because we needed to learn our "el Espanol." Ask me if I remembered what I learned that day in class. The answer is "No." But, I remember that teacher and how frustrated I was with her.

It's amazing to me that feelings and emotion can be felt from so far away. Here I am in California, and these individuals were on the opposite side of the United States. Yet I felt their pain, shared their grief, bargained with God, and experienced the emptiness they must have felt. I remember getting down on my keens, folding my hands, and looking out my bedroom window that night. With tears rolling down my face, I prayed for peace and safety over the families. A prayer that seemed impossible to answer. That day made a huge impact on me as a young adult.

Ten years later, I've graduated from nursing school, and I married a firefighter. A person I respect very much. When I asked him the question, "If you were a firefighter in NYC, and you KNEW those towers would come down, would you still go in?" He simply replied, "Yes." His response scared me, and made me feel proud at the same time. I imagine that's exactly how those 343 firefighters felt that day. They didn't hesitate to help others. In fact, off duty men went to work that day. Red, White and Blue flooded the United States and that's exactly what we became...UNITED. I will never forget that day. We need to always remember who we are...We Are Americans.

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