9/11 - 11 years later

Before 9/11/2012 is out, I want to write something about it. I was 12 years old. I remember I was in the 7th grade. We'd all been pulled from our classes from kindergarten to the 8th grade and ushered into the gym.  I attended a small Seventh- Day Adventist faith based academy. I'm not of that religious denomination, however the school had superb academic standards and looked passed the " Mentally Retarded" brand some child specialist gave me at the ripe old age of three. But I digress.

In the gym we were all asked to pray for the citizens of New York, we were never told why. All we were told was there were people who needed our prayer. I did not matter if they believed in our God, it did not matter if they were Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, Taoist, Agnostic, Muslim or some other kind of weird to us religion. Didn't matter if they were Gay, Straight, Bisexual, Asexual, Pansexual or utterly confused. They needed our prayer and pray we did. At the time I just thought the principal got some creative wild hair for praying.

I remember my sister picking me up at 3:30pm, which was kind of rare. She said " Aunt Doreen( God Rest Her Soul) and Uncle Nello are OK". I probably looked at her as if she'd gone mad, which wasn't to far from the truth in my general opinion. It wasn't until I got home and couldn't find a bloody hockey game to watch. I was kind of an absent minded 12 year old and had probably flipped through dozen of channels and all thought they were playing the same movie. It wasn't until I really looked and listened that I realized what had happened.  Funny enough I still didn't figure out the significance to my sister saying my Aunt and Uncle were fine. I was young and thought Buffalo was Buffalo , New Jersey was New Jersey and New York was New York.  Didn't know the reality of the three being right on each other's arses.

11 years later, I have heard about it being a terrorist attack as well as a blacked out planned stunt by the U.S government to solidify itself as the only super power in the world. Truth be told, I don't give much of a damn what the true story is. Either way shame on them, you can't change the past, you can only work on the present and hope for the future. I will always remember the fallen from that day. The Heroism of those on the Pennsylvania jet. I will remember not how a nation pulled together in a time of need but an entire continent. People often forget the part us Canadians played in the heroics of 9/11. Maybe because all our skylines stayed the same but we were a part. So Canadian 9/11 heros and American 9/11 heros we love you all the same. I'll always remember wondering if I had to start calling the Pentagon the Square. I'll remember not wanting my dad to go to work on the 12th incase they came here. Most of all, I'll remember that being a day when a part of my childlike innocence died. When I realized there really was darkness in the world but it was also the day I realized, I had to be a light in this world because I never wanted to be darkness, I wanted people to find me if they ever felt trapped in the dark.

If you happen to be reading this blog and your member or veteran of any North American Branch of Military from United States Marine to Canadian Air Force. Thank you for your service. If your a First Responder thank you for your Service. I'll never take you for granted.

That wraps up my 9/11 story, memory. I don't think I've ever shared everything with anyone but today I have.
-H

At The WTC in 2006 with the Gymnastics Team