We will always remember

There isn't a doubt in my mind that everybody remembers what they were doing 5 years ago today.

For me, it just seemed like another ordinary day. It was my senior year of high school, and I was just taking things one day at a time. I was sitting in AP Calc, which was coincidentally taught by my cross country coach, listening to the lecture when I noticed one of the history teachers, Mr. Cobb, walking frantically down the hallway outside of our room. I remember thinking to myself, "What's Mr. Cobb doing in the math wing?" Then, not 3 minutes later, he knocked on our door and told my teacher/cross country coach that a plane was flown into the World Trade Center, but it was loud enough for everybody to hear. Maybe I was still a bit naive, but when I heard the news, it almost was like I didn't immediately know what the World Trade Center was or what was happening to it. Then somebody mentioned "twin towers" and everything eventually fell into place.

When Mr. Cobb made the announcement to us, there were about 10 minutes left in class and we had gone over everything we needed to in AP Calc, so we turned the TV to really any channel and saw the catastrophe before our very own eyes. Then, the bell rang and I had to move on to my anatomy class. It seemed like everybody and their brother had already heard about what was going on, and by the time I got to my next class, the first tower had collapsed. Our teacher cancelled her lesson plan for the day and let us just sit there and watch what was happening. Sometime after that, the second tower collapsed and nobody knew what to say. I don't remember much from then thru band and lunch, but after lunch in my French class, that teacher also cancelled her plans and allowed us to watch the newscast from NYC. By that time, they were showing the plethora of dirt covered civilians walking across bridges to get home, along with a few replays of what had happened earlier in the day. My last class of the day, physics, we actually had to learn something, so I didn't see anything more until I got home.

My mom was working for the state at that time, and since she worked by the capitol building, they sent everybody home early, so it was surprising to see her when I got home. She asked me if I knew what was going on and, although I didn't know immediately, it really had started to sink in. We only talked for a few minutes before I had to go to cross country practice. We spent that day in the pool at the middle school doing a water workout, and the tragedy was about the only thing anybody could talk about. It was weird because it was the only pool workout we did all season.

The next day was as telling as any. It was almost a day of thinking, "did that really happen??" The only thing I remember from the next day was the workout we did for cross country. We took a bus out to the backroads of Williamston where not many cars travel, and we ran 8 miles. Not bad, right? Well...to honor the victims of the previous day, our coach told us that we could not talk at all during the run. It was his way of giving a moment of silence for all of those that innocently lost their lives. Hands down, that was the most powerful and emotional run I've ever done. Really all we could hear were birds chirping and leaves rustling in the wind. Almost all of us ran with at least a couple of buddies too, and when we had a question of where to turn, we had to use hand signals. All in all, those are two days I will never forget.

And here we are 5 years later. In an ideal world, hate would not be in anybody's vocabulary and everybody would be at peace with each other. But...this is the way it is and we have to deal with it on a daily basis. One day we will live with an abundance of safety and not have to worry about things outside of our control. One day...