Remembering 9-11-01
We will all remember where we were on 9-11-01. I was in Barnsville, GA in class at Gordon College. Alex was a senior in high school and had a softball game that day. She wanted me at every game, and I wouldn’t miss them because I wanted to be there! That day my roommates and other friends from school were planning on surprising Alex and coming to her game. I woke up that morning like every other day not knowing that this fun little surprise wasn’t going to happen. I was one class down and had just sat in my seat in my math class. The girl beside of me just kept saying “the world has gone crazy, the world has gone crazy”…I wasn’t sure what she was talking about and I was beginning to think she was a little crazy. But as more people entered our classroom the buzz started going around, but I was still in the dark. Next was my Lit class and that’s when our teacher told us what had happened and dismissed class. A tower had just fallen and we didn’t know what would happen next. I got to my car drove to my apartment. I opened the door and sitting in the dark huddled around our television was my two roommates and 7 of our friends. We sat there for the majority of the day watching in Ahh of what was happening to our country. We wanted to do something; they all decided that they wanted to give blood. We couldn’t be in NY, the Pentagon or in PA so we thought the least we could do was give blood. None of us had ever given before and at this time my doctors and I had no clue what was wrong with me so I knew I couldn’t give blood so I decided to be the driver. We drove all around Barnsville and Griffin trying to find a place to give but we never did. That night we gathered at a Chinese restaurant and talked about the day, what had happened, what should happen and then talked about our future dreams.
Since I graduated in 2000 and Sept 11th happened just a year after, a lot of guys I went to school with enlisted in the military. Actually one of my best friends at the time who I spent Sept 11th with enlisted. I even lost a friend in one of the first car bombings. Diego Rincon was a wonderful, fun loving, sweet spirited young man. Everyone loved him. He graduated in 2001 and enlisted right after Sept 11th. The Rincon family had come from Columbia when Fabian (the oldest brother and my friend) and Diego were young. Coming from another country and being able to live the “American Dream” Diego knew he had to go and fight for this country, his country. And he did just that until he was killed in a taxi suicide car bomb on March 29th, 2003. I believe that is really when this war hit home for a lot of us. We were all affected by the happenings on 9-11 but when Diego was killed, he was one of us…and now he was gone. And I was proud to hear that while he was fighting overseas he decided to get baptized and live for the Lord….so now he’s in Heaven waiting for us and we will get to see him again.
Even though we were attacked and it’s a day that we will never forget….the way that we all united together, have stood together and have become stronger together makes me so proud to be an American. I love that this 10 year anniversary has fallen on a Sunday (I’m sure God had that all planned out) but it just seems so fitting. God Bless America!