9/11 and The Butterfly Effect

        13 years ago today, I was in middle school.  I was still in my homeroom class when they wheeled into the classroom, and every one in the classroom stared in awe as the second plane hit the world trade center, and everyone onlooking in horror as people trapped inside of the building began to jump to their deaths. Later on that day, we watched as both towers collapsed in on themselves. Now I will keep my own personal beliefs of what happened on this tragic day to myself, It is really irrelevant for what I want to convey.

  One of my friends on Fetlife, and on Facebook said that he  believes people should "get over it" because it happened 13 years ago, and that it wasn't the greatest loss of life on American soil. While I can see his side of it to a certain extent, I cannot agree with it. I don't necessarily think that 9/11 should be labeled a "national day of mourning" as he put it. However, I don't really feel people should get "over it" He compared the day to the Civil War stating that it was the largest loss of life in American history. Which of course, ... you have Americans basically fighting Americans.  Don't get me wrong the Civil war was a tragic time in our history as well, and those who fought and died in it should be honored...which is one of the reasons we have Memorial day.  However comparing the events of September 11, 2001 to the Civil War is a little redundant. As I stated the civil war was tragic but no one who is alive now was there to witness the events, or even have a family member who witnessed the tragedy. Even with as much empathy as you can possibly muster, you will never be able to know exactly how those events would have effected you. The fear, the panic, the loss, the dumbstruck shock, and the tragedy.

 September 11th is a bit different in the fact that many of us remember exactly what we were doing when we were stopped in our tracks. We know the fear we felt, we remember seeing the look of horror on the faces of our peers around us. Some of us can even remember the smell of the burning buildings and the stench of fire and death that surrounded New York, it is permanently bedizened in our minds. Some of us lost our family members in this tragedy, many more lost family members to the wars that swiftly followed the event. I was fortunate to not have lost anyone in the attacks of September 11th, but it certainty was not easy watching my husband leave for Afghanistan 10 years later strapped with a m-16 rifle or hearing River City screamed throughout his camp in Afghanistan and wondering if the next time they called river city would it be for him? 9/11 was a ripple that affected so many more people than the lives it took.

 The biggest problem I had with his views is that "we should just get over it." The people who lost their loved ones; sons, wives, daughters, mothers, fathers, siblings are still living. Do you ever really get over the loss of someone that you love? Every year you will go on knowing that you will set one less plate at the dinner table. You will know that your father will never see your graduation, or that a mother will never get to meet her grandchildren.  America was dealt a grievous wound and these great wounds take time to heal. There will come a day where September 11th will be just another day in your grandchildren's history book, no different from December 7, 1941 or September 3, 1939. The posters will fade away and become political memorabilia the "Never forget" campaign will become just headlines in a news paper. Until then, I am perfectly content to allow America and her people grieve for however long they need.