The Tragedy of 9/11

I remember the day as clearly as yesterday. It was a morning like any other morning. I was going through my routine daily activities. It was a bright, sunny day, and the air was crisp. The phone rang, and I went to pick it up. Little did I know, that what I was about to hear was going to change my life, and the lives of billions around the world, forever. It was my husband calling from work. "The World Trade Center towers have collapsed!" he said. "What?" I asked. "The World Trade Center towers have collapsed!" he repeated. I couldn't understand what he was saying. The World Trade Center towers had collapsed? What did that mean? Had I heard him right? "Turn on the TV", he said. I picked up the TV remote, and switched on the TV. Breaking News! was displayed on the screen. America Under Attack! screamed the headlines. What was going on? I couldn't make sense of it. AND THEN, I SAW IT. A plane flying into a tower of The World Trade Center! I couldn't believe my eyes. I felt like I was in a trance. Everything felt surreal. And just when I had begun to grasp what was happening, I saw another plane hit the other tower of The World Trade Center! What was going on?! Was this some special effect, or a prank? I changed the TV channel. The same thing was being displayed there. I changed the channel again, and again, and again. It was everywhere. Breaking News! America Under Attack!

I sat down on the couch, stunned. Nothing made sense. This couldn't be happening for real! It just couldn't! Could it? How could it? No, it couldn't! But, there it was, happening on the TV screen before me. Slowly, I began to realize that this was for real, that this was actually taking place. And just as my mind was beginning to comprehend the magnitude of what was happening, I saw what I thought, was impossible. A tower of The World Trade Center began to collapse! It crumbled like a pack of cards. My heart felt like it was sinking into my stomach, and my stomach felt like a bottomless pit. Then the second tower of The World Trade Center began to collapse. I started to cry, and I couldn't stop.

The total number of people who died that day in the terrorist attack is 2,974. These people hailed from 90 countries from around the globe. They were fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. They came from different walks of life, and were now united in their deaths. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, there were many more casualties around the world as The War on Terrorism waged on.

There are some events in the history of mankind, that have changed the course of our journey forever - World War I, World War II, and now, the World Trade Center attacks, are among them. The reason I cried that day was not just because the terrorist attack, in itself, was a very tragic event, which resulted in the loss of so many lives, but also because of what it signified. This was not an attack on The United States of America. This was an attack on everything good that the human race stood for. Democracy. Freedom. Tolerance. Creativity. Prosperity. This was an attack on HUMANITY. Years later, I overheard someone say, "They got what they deserved." Who got what they deserved? America? The people of America? The people who died in the September 11th attacks? Their families? The people who died on 9/11 were not just Americans. They came from countries from all over the world, and religions from all over the globe. So, who deserved it? Us? Yes, if we think that "they" deserved it, we deserve it too. We must remember that we are all human beings, and our highest value is our humanity. The day we lose this, we lose everything.