9/11 Ten Years Later
September 11, 2001. Dasmarinas, Cavite. I was awakened by a text message that the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York were hit by hijacked planes. I groggily marched to the other room where the TV was, and turned it on to CNN. There it was, the buildings were ablaze. It seemed so unreal...
On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I found myself on US soil. We in the Philippines might remember that day very vaguely and treat the anniversary as just another ordinary day but here in the US, it feels very different. The newspaper are full of related articles and documentaries are being shown again on TV. Local groups are doing a memorial ceremonies as well.
We were in church on Sunday, September 11, and part of the service was devoted to lighting candles and reciting a litany about the event. You can sense that people still feel deep sadness from 10 years ago. I can't imagine how it must have been for them when the event happened.
Nang Lani sang this song during the two services. It's a beautiful song called Blessings. It was my first time to hear it and thought that it was really appropriate for the day. A few people cried at church.... I took a video but I don't have a copy of it yet so here's a video from youtube.
The 9/11 catastrophe (or any act of violence) may have been borne of hate, fear, or distrust but it has also shown us the opposite spectrum of humanity - courage, compassion, forgiveness, faith, selflessness, heroism. That is what needs to be celebrated in remembrance of 9/11. And we can all be hopeful...
*Do you remember where you were when you heard about the 9/11 attacks?
On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I found myself on US soil. We in the Philippines might remember that day very vaguely and treat the anniversary as just another ordinary day but here in the US, it feels very different. The newspaper are full of related articles and documentaries are being shown again on TV. Local groups are doing a memorial ceremonies as well.
We were in church on Sunday, September 11, and part of the service was devoted to lighting candles and reciting a litany about the event. You can sense that people still feel deep sadness from 10 years ago. I can't imagine how it must have been for them when the event happened.
Nang Lani sang this song during the two services. It's a beautiful song called Blessings. It was my first time to hear it and thought that it was really appropriate for the day. A few people cried at church.... I took a video but I don't have a copy of it yet so here's a video from youtube.
The 9/11 catastrophe (or any act of violence) may have been borne of hate, fear, or distrust but it has also shown us the opposite spectrum of humanity - courage, compassion, forgiveness, faith, selflessness, heroism. That is what needs to be celebrated in remembrance of 9/11. And we can all be hopeful...
*Do you remember where you were when you heard about the 9/11 attacks?
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