I was 13 years old... we lived in a little town in rural Australia called Griffith. My dad and I would go on morning walks after dropping my mum off at seminary. We were walking home and saw the news paper with pictures of a building smoking and burning. We decided to take the short way home that morning. We got home and turned on the Television. We sat and watched. I think as a 13 year old I didn't understand what was going on but I think I tried to act like I did. I remember thinking - What is terrorism? What are the world trade centers? Can it be possible that so many people have died, lost their life?
It was interesting over the next couple of weeks because as they started to release images of Usama Bin Ladin it was like an automatic scared feeling came over me whenever I saw someone wearing a turban. I had an English teacher who had turban.... I noticed that our class changed towards him, almost blaming him for what happened in America.
I don't wanna preach, I know I have been guilty myself for not giving as much focus to 9/11 each year for the past 10 years. I feel like terrorism and natural disasters have definitely increased since 9/11. In the end it is how we act and what the memory of that day does for us. I know when I was 16 I witnesses another tragedy, the Samoan Temple burning down. That was to me as much life changing as the Twin Towers. In this case no one died but I came to understand more of what it meant to lose something that was important - something close to your core.
Joe here - On September 11, ten years ago, I was on the bus going to school in the morning and I heard other students talking about seeing an airplane crash into a building. It was a unfamiliar image for me to imagine and I thought it might have been a scene out of a movie. I decided not to ask what they were talking about it and sat silently, thinking of what could have possibly sparked such a topic of discussion. When I got to class, it was decided that we would watch the news and I witnessed what happened on that unforgettable day. Looking back on those events has caused me to feel gratitude for what I have. I have a lovely family, great kids, an awesome wife, and I have the Gospel and my life. I feel for the loss.
