remember when

There are certain moments in life that make a big enough impact personally that you remember exactly what you were doing when it went down.  When JFK was shot I was a student at Alice Thurmond Elementary and I remember hearing the news in the restroom.  At the time I didn't really know what it meant, like most of the country.  I stayed with my grandmother down the street after school and I arrived to watch it all on her black and white TV.  Though I cannot tell you what I was doing when I heard about Bobby or MLK , these assassinations also stuck with me.  Peacemakers, all of them.  Yet they were taken out because of their influence.  

On 9/11 I was at work ( as usual ) when Miss Anita came and got me with a panic stricken look oh her face.  "Miss Janie...come with me."  She and the Little General and I snuck into the doctor's lounge and watched as our worlds changed forever.  Sometimes I wonder how that could have ever happened to US!  But what was really amazing is that we all pulled together to realize, as a world leader, we had been attacked from enemies within who literally flew under the radar for five years.  Hmmmm.  

I remember as hours became days and months and still Ground Zero was not cleaned up.  There is a nice memorial there now but it is a stark reminder of a dark day.  I wrote a tribute for DC Roe's project some years later about one of  the victims.  He was a high roller in politics and the money world, just what the terrorists hated most.  As I researched his life, I paused to reflect that there were thousands just like him who lost their lives that day, a large number of them fire and emergency crews.  Their chaplain never gave up, ministering to these first responders as they lost their own lives to save other.  He was carried out but it was too late.  

That was the beginning of a huge crater forming in our country.  Muslims were the target of a lot of hate because the terrorists just happened to be Muslim.  That struck me as wrong, right off the bat.  Things have gone further and further down the road to the point that global warming is past real and mass shootings are the norm.  We are better than this.  If only we could come together as if this 9/11 were a remake with a chance to bring hope and peace to our citizens.  No more Twittering the government.  I'm sure he has some troll staying up all night to do that.  

Be nice.  Love thy neighbor as thyself.  Keep the faith ^j^