Pages
About Me
Links
Tags
PERSONAL 520
SPIRITUAL 416
LDS 312
BOOK OF MORMON 237
SCRIPTURES 154
STUDIO-JOURNEY 129
RELIGION 112
LINUX 79
COMPUTERS 65
LIFE 60
GENERAL CONFERENCE 46
GENTOO 39
MISCELLANEOUS 37
MUSIC 37
PROGRAMMING 33
CARS 29
MICROSOFT 23
FAMILY 23
AUDIO 21
I LOVE MY JOURNAL 18
FUN 15
CHILDREN 12
CURRENT EVENTS 10
NATURE'S WAY 10
VIDEO 9
DRM 9
CONEXM 7
BABBLINGS 7
PROVO CITY CENTER TEMPLE 6
FRIENDS 6
HEROD THE FINK 5
GAMES 5
COMPUTER HARDWARE 5
DRUMS 4
HAND OF GOD 3
ADVERSITY 3
KDENLIVE 3
AUDIO HARDWARE 3
GENERAL INSANITY 3
STUDIO 3
THANKS4GIVING 2
CATS 2
MY JOURNAL 1
POETRY 1
FOREVERGREEN 1
EVERYDAY THOUGHTS 1
GOSPEL 1
PARENTING 1
YOUTH CONFERENCE 1
CHURCH NOTES 1
POLITICS 1
RSS Feed
Subscribe!Tue - Sep 11, 2007 : 11:24 am
pensive
 |
|
|
|
|
rated 0 times |
09/11/2001
Concerning world events, I'll be the first to say that I'm a pretty naive guy. I keep up on stuff that's important to me, but not too much more. I realize that this is somewhat of a flaw, so I am trying to involve myself much more with the world.
That said, on the morning of Sept 10, 2001 - if you asked me what the "world trade centers" were, I honestly wouldn't have had a clue. The morning of the next day was a whole different story.
My morning actually was quite normal at the beginning on that day, my public speaking class at UVSC ended around 8:00am, and then I headed off to work at Novell, working for Xponential (EliKirk, now) as an HTML grunt.
On my way to work, I was listening to an FM radio station which kept saying stuff about "the tragedy at world trade centers", but I was clueless.
When I entered the Novell building, it was a whole different story. By the time I walked in the building, one of the trade centers had already fallen, and the place was buzzing about the incident.
I made my way to a huge TV displaying CNN, which was showing images which will never leave me. I saw people falling, or jumping, out of this *huge* building which was on fire and had huge pumes of black smoke coming out of the top portion.
They would occasionally play the earlier events, and when I saw the shot of the 2nd plane hit the building for the first time, I felt my gut sink. I started to feel a bit panicked as the realization of all of this was slowing coming to me.
"People were on that plane, and in that building", I continually thought as I blinked in disbelief.
I need not reiterate the events any more, but let me just say this:
The tragedy of September 11, 2001 made me really realize what it meant to be free. It taught me the truthfulness of the fact that people exist who will do anything to destroy what we have here. It seems as if their whole purpose in life is to destroy as many innocent American lives as they possibly can.
I honestly can't fathom that, but that doesn't take away any truth from it.
The ensuing months were months of great reflection for me. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. There was no fight, there was no provocation, there was no defense, there was no "Hey, you want some of this? Come get it!".
There was only an evil which took part in silence and cowardice against innocent people who knew nothing of what was coming.
What happened on Sept. 11th, 2001 was an act of cowardice, evil, and terrorism.
I still feel, though 6 years have passed, somewhat connected to those people who suffered, and are still suffering because of this evil. I guess it's the fact that I am free, and I believe that freedom comes at a price. The price to pay to be a free American sometimes is a steep one, and unfortunately, those 3000 people who died unknowingly and innocently paid the ultimate price.
Just thinking about it now brings quite a swelling of emotions. Emotions such as sadness both for the terrorists who really don't have a clue what life is all about, and mostly for the people who suffered or died. Emotions such as anger bordering rage against the people who believe life should be lived to encourage oppression and death to those who think differently than they. I'll never understand that.
My religion has a book which has a passage in it which states, "...the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. ... to defend ... [our] families, and [our] lands, [our] country, and [our] rights, and [our] religion." I believe that book, and that passage, to be as true today as it was when it was written more than 1500 years ago.
God bless America and God bless all those who fight for the freedom which I enjoy every moment I'm alive.
That said, on the morning of Sept 10, 2001 - if you asked me what the "world trade centers" were, I honestly wouldn't have had a clue. The morning of the next day was a whole different story.
My morning actually was quite normal at the beginning on that day, my public speaking class at UVSC ended around 8:00am, and then I headed off to work at Novell, working for Xponential (EliKirk, now) as an HTML grunt.
On my way to work, I was listening to an FM radio station which kept saying stuff about "the tragedy at world trade centers", but I was clueless.
When I entered the Novell building, it was a whole different story. By the time I walked in the building, one of the trade centers had already fallen, and the place was buzzing about the incident.
I made my way to a huge TV displaying CNN, which was showing images which will never leave me. I saw people falling, or jumping, out of this *huge* building which was on fire and had huge pumes of black smoke coming out of the top portion.
They would occasionally play the earlier events, and when I saw the shot of the 2nd plane hit the building for the first time, I felt my gut sink. I started to feel a bit panicked as the realization of all of this was slowing coming to me.
"People were on that plane, and in that building", I continually thought as I blinked in disbelief.
I need not reiterate the events any more, but let me just say this:
The tragedy of September 11, 2001 made me really realize what it meant to be free. It taught me the truthfulness of the fact that people exist who will do anything to destroy what we have here. It seems as if their whole purpose in life is to destroy as many innocent American lives as they possibly can.
I honestly can't fathom that, but that doesn't take away any truth from it.
The ensuing months were months of great reflection for me. I felt like someone had punched me in the gut. There was no fight, there was no provocation, there was no defense, there was no "Hey, you want some of this? Come get it!".
There was only an evil which took part in silence and cowardice against innocent people who knew nothing of what was coming.
What happened on Sept. 11th, 2001 was an act of cowardice, evil, and terrorism.
I still feel, though 6 years have passed, somewhat connected to those people who suffered, and are still suffering because of this evil. I guess it's the fact that I am free, and I believe that freedom comes at a price. The price to pay to be a free American sometimes is a steep one, and unfortunately, those 3000 people who died unknowingly and innocently paid the ultimate price.
Just thinking about it now brings quite a swelling of emotions. Emotions such as sadness both for the terrorists who really don't have a clue what life is all about, and mostly for the people who suffered or died. Emotions such as anger bordering rage against the people who believe life should be lived to encourage oppression and death to those who think differently than they. I'll never understand that.
My religion has a book which has a passage in it which states, "...the Lord has said that: Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed. ... to defend ... [our] families, and [our] lands, [our] country, and [our] rights, and [our] religion." I believe that book, and that passage, to be as true today as it was when it was written more than 1500 years ago.
God bless America and God bless all those who fight for the freedom which I enjoy every moment I'm alive.
Comment by Sarah Jones on Sep. 12, 2007 @ 04:04 pm
Honey, I aboslutely loved this blog entry. It brought tears to my eyes. You expressed so well your emotions that day. I remember also driving to school that day listening to the radio in my car in disbelief that this was actually happening. It is interesting that such a profound event like that does not let us forget where we were and what we were doing that day and what we thought. I too am so grateful for those who sacrifice their families and even their lives to give us all freedom. Especially my brother Craig (and my sister-in-law Annie who supports him completely) who joined the Marines shortly after 9/11/01. Eventhough, he has not had to go to Iraq, which I am very grateful for, he is willing to for our country. Thank you sweetheart for helping me reflect on these things.