remembering

2001 seems like so long ago. I was 13 years old and living in Reading, England. It seems like a whole life time ago. And yet- 09/11/01 is a day I don't think I will ever forget. Due to the time difference between NY and England it was the afternoon. When Marshall and I came home from school Mom met us at the front door and she was crying. She said something awful had happened. She explained that some men had taken airplanes and flown them into the Twin Towers in New York City. We didn't have a tv so we went next door to our neighbors house. I watched on live tv as the second tower fell. I was people jumping out of the building in hopes of saving themselves. I listened as New Yorkers were interviewed and longed to be there with them. I longed to be back in the United States. I hated that I was, what felt like, a world away. My nation mourned for the loss of lives and for this awful act and I was in a foreign country left on my own to soak in the events and process the aftermath. Back in the US the country united together. The next day I went to school the next day, feeling sad and alone. I knew that everyone would talk about what had happened and because Marshall and I were the only Americans in our school I was sure people were going to be pestering me all day. Sure enough, I felt unable to escape. Our school had lots of Muslims from Afghanistan and Pakistan and I will never forget one girl's comment about how those men who hijacked the planes were brave and did what they believed was good. It broke my heart. I talked to my friends back in New York who told me about how everyone had banded together and I felt abandoned. But today, I am so happy to be back in the wonderful United States of America. I am so happy to live in a democracy. I am so grateful for the Constitution. I am so grateful to worship freely. And I am so grateful that no one can take that away from me.