Seven years ago, so many lives changed forever. Our country, changed forever. It's hard for the calendar to roll around to this day without going back and remembering where I was at the moment the attacks occured. I was in college, in the middle of moderating a class. The administrative assistant for the floor came in to tell me that a plane had flown into one of the Twin Towers in New York and they thought it was an accident. She said she would keep me posted. Being the complete news junkie that I am and having visited the Twin Towers, I knew it would be difficult for a plane to hit one of them. I immediately dismissed the class and went to the television in the lobby, right before the second tower was hit. The room was overflowing with students and professors, all watching the events unfold live, in complete silence. As the second tower was hit, the room erupted in gasps and tears. We were sitting hundreds of miles away in SC but our hearts were right there wih every other American...feeling completely helpless.

 

When it became clear that it was a terrorist attack, class was canceled, so I walked to my car, almost in shock. I called my mom and told her I loved her. I went and ate lunch with my best friend at a sports bar. All the TVs were tuned to the events unfolding in New York, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. The room was silent. My friend had to go to work, I went to the local blood center. Everyone thought there was going to be a huge need for blood. At least that was something I could do. When I got there, there wasn't anywhere to park. People were wrapped around the building. Like so many others that day, I gave blood, and ended up hanging around, handing out drinks, taking phone calls, trying to be useful.

 

We tuned in to watch President Bush address the nation, we stayed up all night watching the horror on TV. The next day, no one on campus talked about anything but the events. We planned vigils. We prayed. It was all we could do.

 

Seven years removed from that day, I'm now a mother. This morning I sat in the kitchen eating breakfast with my son, who is 5, as they showed the events in real time on TV. He and I talked in kid terms about good and evil, about death, and mostly about life. He talked about soldiers. He thinks they are great and I do too! We talked about serving our country. Ways we could help our country be better. Isn't that the lesson we can draw from this horrible event? Isn't that how we should honor the people who so courageously rushed into those towers to rescue people and those who took the plane down over Pennsylvania? We serve. Whatever it is, we make the country and our world a little better. If we serve for something greater than ourself, we never forget.