Pearl Harbor, Kennedy Assassination, the Moon Landing, Challenger Explosion, and the Twin Towers. Every generation has that one moment that you will remember where you are and what you were doing, your thoughts, and the emotions that coursed through you when if happened.
The Twin Towers and the Pentagon attacks were heart wrenching moments in the history of our country. We were attacked simply because an organization did not like what the United States of America stood for. We suffered more than the loss of life that organization so desired, we lost trust in fellow mankind, we lost the ability to see the best in others, and we lost reason in looking at the countries where that organization was rampant.
However we gained an America that banded together to support and love those who were left behind and an America that wept together. We gained heroes who sacrificed their own chances of survival to save many more lives. And finally we gained an appreciation for our firemen, police officers, emergency workers, and military personnel.
Unfortunately after a dozen years of the War on Terror, America has grown tired of war. They have forgotten the pain and grief experienced in those moments. Many who have just graduated college were barely a decade. Did they understand the scope of the tragedy they were witnessing?
It saddens me to see the loss of America that prayed together during those tragic times. I see Americans fighting again and again. Compassion is disappearing.
I am choosing to remember how I felt in those moments; I am choosing to teach my children tolerance and love; I am choosing to believe that heroes still exist; AND I am choosing to pray. I will pray for the world to gain love and compassion. I will be praying that men and women will once again give support to one another. And i will be praying that the world will gain an understanding that violence is not to solution. Anger begets anger.
