Sept 11th, 10 years after

10 years ago the most virulent attack on American ground shook the world for the worst. Everybody will remember what they were doing when they learnt the news just as our grandparents remember what they were doing when they heard that JFK had been shot. I was at my parents' home on a day off from my summer job. I had been working on my thesis about American action heroes in movies and had watched all movies with Willis, Stallone, and Schwarzenegger. I turned on the TV in the middle of the afternoon and saw one tower burning. I just thought "Die Hard is on" and switched the channel, only to find that EVERY channel had the same images and that they were definitely not from a movie (in my defense, if you watch Die Hard, you'll find similarities). I watched, incredulous, as the towers fell and as the previously aired shots of the planes crashing into the towers were played over and over again.

Because I am not American, these events didn't shake me to the core -what they did do for sure was instill a terrible fear of flying in my system. I analyzed the event with a detached political science background and to this day cannot imagine what you Americans went through that day. I try to imagine terrorists attacking Paris with that brutality, and frankly my mind goes blank. That's just too much violence and hatred to fathom.

This morning while walking to church I heard a mom say "I don't know whether they had killed the pilot first, sweetie" and thought I was lucky that I didn't have to explain what had happened to Léo. It must be so difficult to tell your children about this. The homily this morning reminded us that Jesus told us to forgive 7 times 70 times and that we should all remember 9/11 by doing something good for our community and the world. When Léo is old enough to ask questions, I hope I'll be able to tell him what happened but also encourage him to make the world a better place and to be kind to others, always.

I have empathy for what you and your country have been through. I hope the war on terror will end soon. I hope 9/11 will stop being used as an excuse to refuse to understand other peoples and religions. I pray that those who lost someone in the attacks will heal and find beauty in the memories of those they have lost.