We Will Never Forget

Today is Tuesday September 11, 2007. Six years to the day that our country was brutally attacked. I remember this day in 2001, it was a bright, sunny Tuesday morning. I was in my first semester at Westfield State College and had just left my morning class. I was on my way to my car to head home when I walked through one of the lounges and found everyone glued to the television, watching the coverage of the attack on the towers. In what was not a large space 250-300 students stood transfixed in horror, sadness, uncertainty and grief. I knew then what my grandparents must have felt when they heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor. However, out of the grief I witnessed that day, I also saw signs of hope and love. I saw students and teachers who did not know each other coming together as a community, comforting and helping each other to cope with what they were feeling. As I drove home from school that morning I heard about another attack in Washington, and my heart jumped again because I had family that worked in Washington. I was one of the lucky however that had no one I knew personally killed on that September morning.
Over the next few months the way this country was able to come together and forget the petty differences and arguments, and instead work together to help those in need showed me what America could truly be like if we tried everyday to treat everyone as a friend and neighbor.
I urge you all to remember not only on every September 11, but everyday that we are all one people, we are all connected, we all grieve, cry, smile and laugh. Use the memory of these atrocious acts as a catalyst for increasing the spirit of kindness and humanity that we all hold inside.