The Day After...

So yesterday was the big 10 year anniversary of 9/11. It was crazy to experience those emotions all over again. I surprisingly made it through the day without breaking down...I teared up several times, but I managed to hold it in. The images and videos that were displayed on TV yesterday were breathtaking. And not in a good way. It's still difficult to fathom what happened that day.

I found myself trying to remember how I felt when I walked into Mr. Harper's 8th grade science class and saw that the TV was on. Truth is...most of that day is blurry and fuzzy around the edges. I know for a fact that we did not do any schoolwork that day; we watched the news all day long. And hardly anybody talked while we stared at what was happening in our country. We knew it was bad. By the end of the day, government officials had figured out that it was indeed an attack and not an accident. This was when I first heard about Osama Bin Laden...strange.

The day after the towers fell may be as significant as the actual occurrence. Why? Because it spurred people into action. We helped. We volunteered. We rallied around our hurt to unite the nation. It was an incredible thing to watch. During sporting events, teams wore hats that said "FDNY" or "NYPD" to recognize that we were one. It didn't matter if you were a Mets fan or a Giants fan...we came together to support our fellow Americans.

Now, we are days after. Weeks after. Years after. The pain is still there, particularly on the anniversary days. I challenge you to consider the following:

What have I done to make the world better since 9/11?
Have I kept the commitments that I made on that day and the days after?
How can I do better going forward?

I hope you are doing something rewarding in your life. I hope that you are impacting those around you. And I hope that in the days to come you will commit to something worthwhile and never give up.