On this day .....

September 11, 2010. I have the television on and can not keep from watching the History Channel and it's footage of the events of 9 years ago. It is one of "those days", where you will always remember where you were and what you were doing and who you called.
Like the day President Kennedy was killed in Dallas. Then I was in Jr. High, and a hall monitor. I was holding a door open in preparation for the changing of classes. I blurted out what I had been told to a teacher passing by. She didn't believe me and told me that I should never make up a terrible thing like that. Immediately, another teacher came up and confirmed what I had said. They went off together and never spoke to me. I have always been angry that Mrs. Yeaw didn't believe me and never apologized.
On September 11, 2001 I was watching the Today Show and listening to Matt Lauer interview some guy who had written a book. I have no idea what the book was about, but they broke into his interview to cover the breaking news that a plane had hit the South Tower. There was some speculation that it was an accident, but I picked up the phone and called my son Gordon, working for Exxon Mobil, to tell him that New York had been attacked. For some reason, I just knew it was no accident. I just thought of how near he was to refineries in Jersey and I felt that he needed to be warned. I was sure that if this country was under attack, they would bomb refineries near the coast.
I could not tear myself from the television for the rest of the day. I could not bear to watch, but I could not look away. I can not look at the night sky ... ever ... without remembering what it was like to see no planes in the sky at night. I thought so just last night, as I was outside enjoying the wind in the trees before bed, and watched the blinking lights in the heavens.
The whole world changed that day, even if it wasn't immediately clear to every citizen of the Earth. We are all different now. There is no going back. I only hope that some day, some how and way peaceful people can prevail on this planet.