Saturday, September 17, 2011

9/11

So, I know it's September 17th, but just now I made a split-second decision to write about 9/11. I'm only fourteen, and so I was four when it happened, and I don't remember anything. My mom said I was at preschool when it happened, and she and my dad only saw it on the TV. However, I still have something to say about it.
Monday was the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and so of course everybody was walking around with solemn faces and sad moods. A couple whose names I will not mention came to speak about 9/11 at my school. They had been there when it happened. The woman was telling us about how her best friend died in one of the towers because she wouldn't leave a disabled man. And she started to cry. And at that point, I felt that I actually understood at least a tiny piece of the horror that those people went through that day. She told us about how her brother walked four miles to get their daughter back to their house. The man told us about how his best friend died three years after the event, from all the smoke that got into his system. It was one of the most moving things I have ever seen.
However, I wish people would stop talking about it. Don't they realize that there are people who are still in therapy because of the awful things that they saw there? Don't they realize that bringing it up all over again does NOTHING? Really, if you can tell me a good reason why we should keep "celebrating" 9/11, I would love for you to tell me. We have got to move on from this. I mean, there are still things every day that amply remind us of what happened. We don't need to do this huge thing every time September 11th rolls around.
I do feel that I understand a little bit of what really happened now, though. And I'm glad of that. And that is all I have to say.