Remembering 9.11.2001

I, like millions of other people, watched the horror unfold on that fateful day on September 11 2001.  It was late afternoon here in South Africa when I received a call from my sister telling me to turn on CNN, "a small plane crashed into the World Trade Centre" she said anxiously.  When I did, I saw one of the Twin Towers burning with a gaping hole to its side.  Still trying to digest what I was seeing, a second plane struck the second tower.  As fire and smoke bellowed out of it from the tremendous impact from the second strike, I realized the world as we knew just changed.

The rest of the day I spent glued to my television set, watching people leaning out windows trying to escape from what must have felt like hell.  I watched people jump and falling to their deaths.  I remember the horror and disbelieve when both the towers came tumbling down.  People running for their lives and those who escaped covered in a grey ominous ash and dust.  I remember hearing the high pitch sounds of car alarms and sirens as pieces of singed paper and debris came floating down from the sky like snow.  I remember hearing that another plane crashed into the Pentagon and another went down in a field.  I watched a country under attack.  I watched a country in shock. I remember wondering how many people had died.

Today, ten years later, much have changed.  Where the towers once stood now is a memorial park, the damage to the Pentagon is repaired and the lives of those affected by this tragedy have been rebuild.  But the memory lingers, like a bad dream. The "War on Terror" have since became an unfortunate familiar term and Osama Bin Laden is finally dead.  As we remember the events of that fateful day, I also urge you to remember the fallen heroes, not only those who sacrificed their live on that day but also those who gave their lives in the years that followed.

The world will never forget, but will live and overcome. My thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones on this day 10 years ago and also all those who have since lost loved ones in the fight against terror.