Before today
September 11, 2001i have never been good with politics or history or world affairs. this world is too big for me to comprehend. (it never sat in the palm of my hand.) i can barely get a handle on myself, my family and friends, much less tragedies such as this.
i keep thinking of the people who open up their wallets and mouths, coughing up donations and accusations. i wonder what is in their heart, and i wonder where it was monday, or last week, or last year. yes, those two buildings were beautiful — anyone who knows me knows that new york has been to me a magical place since i was a young girl — but so many monuments were before they, too, were destroyed. yes, thousands of people have died, but thousands of people die everyday.
please don’t mistake this for lack of compassion. i am just so sad and frustrated and scared. they say that america is finally waking up, but i wish it didn’t have to come to this. what were we doing before today?
i look at the red, white & blue flag, and i feel like it doesn’t belong to me, but then i remember that i pledged allegiance to it. that i stood up tall with my hand on my heart and said i would fight for this country. many of you were born into this, but i chose it. my parents chose it, because martial law had been declared and there would have been no hope had we stayed.
america was hope, and look at it now.