My husband and I often can’t remember what we did a week ago. But my memory still remains vivid of that day and the aftermath. My daughter-in-law was supposed to stay in bed during her third pregnancy for a number of weeks before her due date. I spent the week helping out and caring for her two other sons, age three and two weekdays and overnight.
They had no TV or radio at the time, so we didn’t hear the news until her sister called. Her sister’s husband worked in a building very close to the twin towers, but he called in sick that day. I didn’t see the towers fall until that weekend and watched one of the many replays on TV at home. It just didn’t appear real as the planes hit one at a time and went straight down one story upon another.
It changed the way we viewed our serene, safe world. The amazing days following the attack that killed 3000 in NYC and a number of others in the pentagon and in a quiet feild in Pennsylvania, also renewed a reverence for our country and the founding values and most of all a return to God. There were US flags flying everywhere in homes, on trucks,at half mast in towns. God seemed to have returned to a country where mention of Him or prayer was not in vogue. A huge gathering at Madison Square Garden featuring religious leaders was televised.
Christian churches were filled including our own country parish. Patriotism made a comeback. When did this resurgence of God and country disipate. I don’t know, but it waned gradually. I always thought if another attack came shortly after that, it would have united our country. I even dare to think the enemy knew that as well. How many of us know our country was founded because of freedom of religion? And became like a ‘a city on a hill’ for the good for all peoples to follow– and will this return without another 9/11.
DJ Pasternak, Author 