Gay Guy in Seminary: Day 165 (United 93)

I know it's weird that I'm writing about this now when I didn't even mention anything about it on Sept 11th, but I just watched the movie United 93, and it brought all of those memories back from that horrible day. I remember growing up and thinking about how my generation didn't really have a moment where everyone knows exactly where they were when some important historic event happened, like the moon landing or when Kennedy got shot. The closest thing I could think of was the O.J. verdict, and believe me when I say I understand that was not an important event.

I know Kennedy get shot was awful, but Sept 11th was WAY worse. It's not really a game that I want to win.

I remember waking up that morning and turning on the radio as I was getting ready for work. I used to listen to this radio show hosted by Jamie, Frosty and Frank. They were talking about how horrible it was that an airplane had crashed into the world trade center. I remember thinking that it was either some kind of weird radio prank, or something really bad was happening, so I turned on the TV and every channel was showing the smoke coming out of the world trade center building. I think the second tower got hit as I was driving to work; I cant remember exactly. Needless to say, we didn't get a lot of work done that day.

One of my co-workers panicked and left to take her kids out of school. I remember how scared everyone was. The world seemed to have gone mad. I remember looking up at the sky the next few nights and how eerie it was because there were no planes. There's always planes.

I always felt so proud of the people on United Flight 93. They were so incredibly brave in what they did. They make me proud to be an American. I had gotten the DVD from Netflix months ago, but for some reason never had the chance to watch it. I think I kept finding excuses to do other things because I knew how painful it would be to watch. I cried for a large portion of it.

So, my generation has a moment now where almost everyone can say where they were when it happened. I had hoped that watching Obama bet sworn in as the first black president would have overwritten it, but Sept 11th still stands out as the more significant day in my personal history.

As a human race, we keep making huge advances in technology even as we continue to bicker and squabble and destroy our planet. Hopefully I will live to see the first human walk on Mars. That would be a great day.