Seven years later...

Seven years ago I was stepping out of the shower anticipating another monotonous day in my middle school life. As I dried off, a knock sounded on the bathroom door. My mother, in a worried tone, informed me that something was happening on the news. Stepping out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, I caught a glimpse of the news station on the TV.

A building was on fire.

Interesting I thought, but surely not the cause for concern that my mother had. After all the building was in New York, hundreds of miles away. It had no relevance to our lives. And buildings are seemingly on fire everyday. Right?

It was September the 11th.

As the morning progressed the situation became clear. Or at least as clear as it could be to a seventh grader. When another plane struck the second tower a silence settled over our classroom. Everyone had canceled their lesson plans. We watched history being made.

I didn't understand.

I don't think anyone really did. On that day we were all seventh graders. We were scared. Confused. Sad. But like a dry ice experiment, no one could really understand what happened. All we knew was the outcome. And it unfolded too quick to rationalize.

Here we are, seven years later.

Its hard to distinguish exactly what 9/11 changed in the United States. A better question is what did it not change? My experience with media professionals introduced me to their stories from that morning. In one second the newsroom was turned upside down. It was one of the biggest stories this century, and yet no one wanted to believe it. On that day, journalists began the arduous task of reporting the attack on America. And no one did it with a smile.

Watching the news from that morning still sends a chill up my spine. People who started their day with a shower, and ended it with terror. It changed lives. Futures. Industries. And it changed minds.

It changed our country.

Should the United States be in Iraq? Should we have a pullout time table? That's all besides the point. The point is people passed away that day. They had families and kids and a warm meal waiting on the table at home. And today put away the politics. Remember those people. Remember that their day started as normal as every one of yours. And live as if there's no tomorrow.

Those people deserve to be remembered.