20 years

When someone mentions 20 years, I think, that’s a long time! Yet looking back, it has happened so fast, and things in my life and in everyone else’s life has changed so drastically. How could it be so different after only 20 years?

Back then …

Twenty years ago, I was in college navigating a murky minefield of relationships and future, trying to find a path. Unmarried, not even dating my husband, I remember this day twenty years ago, even close to this exact moment in the morning.

Heading to my first class, I girl called me from the hallway.

“Did you see what’s happening?”

Stepping into her dorm room, I saw a building on fire.

“An airplane crashed into it.”

“People are so stupid. How could they be so reckless?”

And that was my response. The world of terror didn’t exist for me, possible threats weren’t a reality in the small town in Arkansas where I was going to school.

Once I made it to class and my teacher never showed, it became clear it was different than a simple crash caused by human or machine error.

In Memoriam

I’ve read story after story about police officers and firefighters whose last words are etched into history as they raced back into those buildings to save yet another life, in turn giving their own. It’s heart-wrenching and sobering to see what true heroism looks like.

Those heroes exist today, but we aren’t writing their last words into history. Police officers, firefighters, first responders and our military are being left behind, in the wake of political gain.

We came together 20 years ago to unite as a nation, to prove we were not cowards, we would endure. Is that how we’ve united today?

On this sobering anniversary maybe we should understand that there are more important things in life than our own personal means. Servitude is lost, sacrifice, right vs. wrong, kindness and compassion have disappeared under the guise of political correctness.

Say a prayer for those lost, the families left behind who are still reeling of the images of those towers crashing to the ground. Pray for our country and leaders, that God would give them knowledge and He would forgive us as a nation. Because if we don’t come together now, the next 9/11 will knock us down and we might not be able to stand back up.

“One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, With Liberty And Justice For All.”