September 11th 2011

It is September the 11th 2011. It is a date that kick starts many of our minds and will never be known as a normal date again. All week I have been reading and watching the news about the tenth anniversary of the attack on the world trade centre. I thought that by the time it got to the date so widely talked about that I would be incredibly tired of the over repeated story, but I am not. What is so odd about this date and attack is that everyone knows where they were when it happened, everyone knew how they responded and everyone felt apart of it. I was young, I was at school and the news slowly trickled down into our classroom. Our teacher had put off telling us for as long as she could because she did not want it to disrupt the class but enough was enough and it was something that we needed to know. Even though, at the time I had not been to New York, the city itself had and still does play such a big part in my life. It was a place that I had urged, wanted and dreamt of going to and it was a place that just kept on screaming out to me. When I heard that something had gone on in New York, my first thought was excitement. I thought “Oh my God, great! I can see New York on the TV” but that thought quickly changed as I realised what was going on. It was odd because even though I had never stepped foot in the city, I felt like something was being pulled out of me. When the tower collapsed it was as if my body shut down. I don’t think I blinked, I don’t think I even acknowledged what was even going on on the TV. One minute it seemed so real and then the next minute it was as if I switched the television over to a movie. I watched the news nearly twenty four hours solid. The story kept on playing over and over again and it just did not process what was going on. Somebody did not just do that and this did not just happen, it cant have. Ten years on and I can still watch the news stories and I still cant process properly what went on that day. I cant believe that some people could have that much hate, that much will to cause so much destruction and kill so many people. Knowing that their actions would do what it did. I do not think I will ever truly understand what went on that day and I don’t think I ever want to. Anyone that really does understand must have the same amount of evil inside them as the people that caused so much destruction that day. If this is how I feel then I can not even begin to understand the thoughts that go through the families of those who died that day. Living every day with the story repeating itself, the constant questions and for many of them, the idea of no closure must be the hardest thing they will ever have to deal with. My thoughts are with every single one of these people. Not so long ago I thought to myself “Ten years, that is a long time. Things change drastically and so much can be achieved” This is true, ten years is a long time but it is also such a short time. I feel that the attacks happened a couple of years ago, that it was not that long since I had left school, not so long ago that I was living at home. For someone to get over something, ten years is such a short period of time. To rebuild something that has had so much devastation around the world and affected so many peoples lives, ten years is a short period of time. I have realised that for a city to pick itself up, hold its head high and move onward, ten years is the smallest amount of time. New York city inspired me before and now, after these attacks ten years on, I have no words at all to describe how inspirational, magnificent and proud I am of this place. I am a proud Londoner but my heart is within New York. I don’t know if the city can be classed as a parent, a teacher, a role model or an icon but I know that this place and the people that live within it should be extremely proud of themselves. We cant turn back time and change the past but we can learn from it and use it to help change the future. New York stands proud and nothing will ever change that.