September 11th was a Tuesday and I was in my freshman year of college at Gardner-Webb University, a private christian university. Every Tuesday we held a chapel called Dimensions in the LYCC (our sports arena) at 9:15am. I didn't have an 8am class on Tuesdays, so I was able to take my time getting ready for Dimensions because my dorm was next door to the LYCC. For any of my readers that know me well, you won't be shocked to learn that even in college I watched the news, specifically Good Morning America, every day as I got ready. Laura C was a dorm-mate of mine (who I lived with during the next Spring semester) who also watched the news in the morning. She and I had seen the first reports and met in her room to finish getting ready. We were both watching the screen as the second plane hit the World Trade Center and fears of an attack were confirmed. Neither of us knew anyone that might be in New York City that day, but we were both in a state of shock and terror that our nation that had always felt safe to us was now vulnerable.
In many ways I didn't want to leave our dorm that morning. The other girls who knew Laura and I would know what was happening had come into the room with us. As much as we all wanted to stay to be there and know what else would happen that morning, we also wanted to be in Dimensions. I wanted to be somewhere that I thought I might find some sense of peace. That morning solidified my decision to attend a Christian school. Dimensions only had to be attended 10 times each semester, but I'm not sure anyone missed that morning. We prayed, we cried, we learned of the first collapse, we prayed and cried more. The decision was made not to hold classes the rest of the day and a prayer service on the quad was announced for that evening. After Dimensions we went back to our dorm and were there in time to see the second tower collapse and to learn more about what had really happened, not only in New York, but also in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon.
Once there was no more breaking news, no more planes crashing or buildings falling it became a "What now?" In my life, when major tragedies happened, which for me was always a natural disaster, I had always been part of a team that took on a project. We had made meals for people, cleaned up flood ravaged towns, or collected needed items. But 9/11 was unlike any other thing that had happened in my life time. It felt like so much help was needed, but that I was unable to provide any of it. I'm not sure how I passed the time that day outside of watching the news. There were friends at school who were concerned about loved ones back home. There were friends in the town who were first responders that had been put on alert as they were all over the nation. That night I attended the prayer service on the quad with hundreds of my fellow Bulldogs.
It was a day like no other in my life. And that day changed my life forever. Not only did it change my life practically in the effect it had on the way America functions, but it also changed me personally. I believe that September 11th was another encouragement in my life to want to be a counselor to people in crisis. If I had been offered the chance to be at ground zero, at the Pentagon, or with the families of those lost in the field in PA, I would have gone without a second thought. To that moment I knew that I had a heart for victims of natural disasters, but I had no idea that I would have the same draw to victims of man made disaster. One and half years later I switched my major to Psychology.
That is my 9/11 story. Please feel free to share yours in a comment below! In some ways it helps me to honor the victims of that day and to keep that day in the forefront of my mind when I tell my story. This is my way to Never Forget.
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