Friday, September 11, 2009

Under God

I was a senior in high school, sitting in Mr. Tweeton's class. The class ended and I was walking out the door when I overheard our Dean of Students having a quiet discussion with my teacher, saying that the World Trade Center had been hit. Let's face it, I'm fairly naive as far as travels go, and I truly had no idea what the World Trade Center was! It took only a matter of about 10 minutes for me to truly understand. Instead of going to my next class, we were all to go into the library to watch news footage of what was going on.

The horror before my eyes was more than I knew or could possibly understand. I sat with my eyes glued to the television screen for the rest of the school day. I had no comprehension of the fact that I hadn't eaten lunch, that I had skipped the few classes that were still being held, or of what was truly going on. I couldn't grasp the fact that someone would be so truly filled with hatred that they would want to commit such a heinous crime. I was scared, confused and uncertain what this would mean.

The one good thing that I remember coming from this, however, was the oneness you felt with fellow Americans. It didn't matter if you were black, white, brown or purple - whether you had money or were dirt poor. We truly were one nation under God.

My prayer for our country as we remember this day is just that: that we will remember what it means and find our way back to being one nation under God.