9/11 - Reflections, twenty years on!

Today, I republished a blog entry detailing my recollection of 9/11, twenty years after that fateful day. Watching this horrendous terrorist attack unfold on television has stayed with me for two decades, and it still shocks me to the core. All of us witnessed death and destruction on a level not seen since the Second World War. Rolling news programmes brought home the horror of what was evolving in America, in a way never seen before. No one will never forget what happened, it has left an indelible mark on all our hearts.

On the twentieth anniversary, all of us should reflect on a day of infamy, that saw the deaths of 2977 people, from every corner of the globe. The attacks on the World Trade Centre, Pentagon and the downing of flight 93 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, defined the World we live in today; a generation later, it still remains the biggest terrorist attack in modern history. This was the moment all our lives changed, and our planet became a much darker place; this was the day I finally realised what evil was.

On that day in 2001, I was carried along on a sea of emotion, unlike anything I have ever experienced. I cried more than I had ever cried before, not for a family member or loved one, but for people I had never met. I shed tears of distress and disbelief at what I was witnessing, as the sheer scale of this atrocity became clear. It seemed that minute by minute, we were all bombarded with intensely terrifying news, exploding into all our homes. I just remember sitting motionless, unable to comprehend the enormity of the situation unfolding across America. The emotions I experienced on 9/11, were for the end of innocence and a natural belief that the World was coming to an end.

In many ways September 11th 2001 did signal an ending — this tragedy was just the beginning of a change in the way we all live our lives. It was a turning point that ended my fear of death and dying. I had become desensitized to the fragility of life  and almost accepted all future events as part of the course, no matter how dreadful the circumstances. When you witness murder on such a massive scale, even as an onlooker, you do become numb, almost unaware of anything else around you. You have seen the worst people can do, nothing else really compares.

As we remember those who died twenty years ago, we keep their memories alive. Recalling people no longer with us, is a reminder of what they did during their lifetime, who they loved and the families they left behind. Their deaths detail just how terrifying events can be, an incalculable loss, an aide-mémoire to unimaginable cruelty. No normal, sane person will ever understand why 9/11 occurred, but we all recognise the consequences of this terrorist attack. The dust will never settle, families will never forget; they will always remember the unthinkable, inconceivable wickedness that left us all bereft  — 9/11, the day the World held its breath!

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