AT MY BEST...: September 2011

Stuck?! Sketches - 15th September 2011

9:53 PM

The Day Our World Changed Forever

8:00 AM

Where were you on that day, September 11 2001??? I don't think anyone could possibly forget where they were and what they were doing when the devastating news filtered through. (The reason I am posting this in September 12, is this was the day that we awoke to the news in Australia).

Like most my eyes were glued to the tv screens for days waiting, hoping for survivors to be found. I think we all knew that there would be very few, if any at all.

I remember thinking that this was a joke. That no one in their right mind would do something like this. Read into the "conspiracy theories" just to believe that this wasn't real.

I can tell you 10 years on I still feel the same. We know it actually did happen. We know that over 3,000 people died that day. We know that the people of New York City became one big family that day and were there to help others in a time of need.

I can't bring myself to put up any photos of the towers. We have all seen that. We know what it looked like. We know no matter how hard we try, we can't forget it. It's not something we need to keep seeing. Its not how those families involved want their loved ones to be remembered.

It took a trip to the 9/11 temporary memorial in New York City for me to realise that this disgusting act took so many innocent people. I wanted to attend the memorial. I needed too, just to know that it was a reality. I did not know a single person who would have worked at either 1 or 2 World Trade, 7 World Trade, the Pentagon or anyone on one of those terrible flights. But I still had to know it was real. It happened. I needed to pay my respects. I needed to be there to understand.

I will also be the first to admit that once I saw the below statue, the name badges from local NYFD that lost their lived to save others, the notes from small children saying they were sorry for what had happened to other innocent people, the voices of familys telling their stories of receiving those last phone calls, it really hit home. This was no joke. It was the day our lives all changed forever. They changed at exactly the same time, and I lost all my composure I had to be at the memorial. I cried. I sobbed in public at the reality. At the ability to put names and faces to those taken. Not one person turned to me and looked at me strange. They let me grieve, realise and understand in my own time.

I feel for all of the children that don't know a world without the threat of terrorism. I feel for the children that felt they had to apologise for lives taken by sick people.

The heart in this picture reads: Dear..... I am sorry you guys had to do hard stuff but you guys are doing a great job. Love ....... This note in written in children's handwriting. This child may have been 6 or 7 years old.

10 Years on we remember. We feel. We hurt. We try to forgive. We think about how much our world has changed. We know how lucky we are living in Australia and we know how precious life is.

TFL xx