Remembering the day

I guess everyone remembers where they were on that fatal day, seven years ago...is it really seven years already? Wow! It's one of those days that go into your memory bank and stay there. There are certain days that are so clear to me and yet I have trouble in remembering a lot of my life...it all comes in small groups of fuzzy stuff and after a while seems to meld into one. The days that are so clear to me though can be counted on less than ten fingers! My first day in hospital at age five, and the day I came out of hospital two years and three months later (more about that another time)! The day I heard that Buddy Holly had died in an air plane crash, (I was 14 years old). The assasination of John F. Kennedy and later his brother, Robert. Inbetween those two events was the day my favourite Uncle was killed in a horrible accident at work on my 20th birthday, and of course the day we lost Martin Luther King! Of course there was the day I was married, and when I lost my Mother and my two Aunts, but they are labelled 'personal' (as some of the other events I've mentioned I guess)......but then came Sept.11th 2001, a day that everyone remembers and affects so many people around the globe. I was on my way to work that beautiful morning. As usual I was running a bit late, pulling on my shoes and grabbing my purse as the news of the first plane to go into the World Trade buildings flashed onto the TV. My husband was already in the car with the engine going and so I hurridly turned off the TV and ran out to the car. As I got in, he said that he'd just heard the news.....a terrible accident we thought and listened as the announcer on CBC went back to the local program already in progress. As I went into our Mall to open up our store, one of the women who worked in the Info Booth near our store came running over to me and asked if I'd heard the news.....I replied, yes, a terrible accident......but then she proceeded to tell me that another plane had just gone into the second building and we both looked at each other and simulataneously said "that's no accident!". The rest of the morning was spent anxiously talking to customers and mall store staff as more news came out. Our part time lady came in at 11am and said she was very worried about her daughter who works over in Detroit and she'd heard that the two border crossing's (the tunnel and the bridge) had already been closed! Traffic heading either into the States or into Canada, had been turned back! At lunch time I headed down to Radio Shack to watch the events as they were happening on their TV's. There was a huge crowd in the store transfixed to the TV. As horrifying as it was, it seemed like you couldn't stop watching. The Info Booth lady kept saying to us, "my son is an American Citizen (born in the States), and I'm worried, he's only 21 years old....what if he's called up to fight! The Americans will go to War over this!" We all tried to reassure her that it wasn't going to happen, but deep down most of us there that day knew that the United States would retalliate in some way once they knew who had attacked them that day! Her son never did get called up but I can understand her fears that day. All day it seemed we heard various rumours......Chicago and Los Angeles and even Detroit were supposedly going to be next! What if they attacked the border bridge etc etc. I talked to my husband on the phone several times. He had been watching CNN all day. He had already phoned his brother who at that time was working in Chicago, in the head office of the Bank he works for! His mother was fretting about her son in Chicago.....understandably. And so it went on. How horrifying were the images on the TV, played over and over again. When I got home and saw the complete events, I broke down in tears. At that time I spent a lot of my online hours in a chat room peopled by a lot of ex-pat Brits, and people living all over the World, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand. That night was one of the busiest times I had seen in the chatroom. It was like we all wanted to be together and talk about the days events. One of our online friends in New Zealand is an ordained minister. She came online and actually spent all her time comforting us all, and even lead us in prayer for the USA and all the victims of that day. It was a very special night with online friends and buddies. One of the good things to come out of that day! As this day fades in memory for many people it seems that it gets talked about less and less. The media too have changed in those few years. More commentary and less focus on 'just the facts'....and to me life in general has become more superficial. We have seen the rise of news about celebrities becoming almost the main news ......what used to be just a sidebar or 'tidbit' in the news is now taking more and more priority. Many people seem to have lost sight of the more important issues facing the World today. It makes me sad. Have we not learned the lessons of Sept.11, 2001?! For that day and a few days afterwards, the World came together in sorrow.....yes we move on.....but we should not forget.