September 11, 2001: Looking Back at 9/11

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was coming from my sister's house where I had borrowed fifty dollars to carry me over until payday. My daughter and granddaughter lived with me at the time and we were having some serious financial problems. Traffic was heavy as I made my way through town, wishing my daughter was more emotionally stable so that she could hold a steady job and help support herself and her daughter.

It was approaching ten o'clock when I turned off the main road and my cell phone rang. It was my sister. "Are you home yet?"

"Almost. Is something wrong?"

"America is under attack!"

"What!"

Those words sounded absolutely ridiculous to me. America under siege? No way. It was probably a malfunction of some kind. Nevertheless, I called my daughter. "Are you watching the television?"

"No."

"Your aunt just called and said that a plane hit the World Trade Center!"

It seemed to take forever to get home. My daughter was staring wide-eyed, at the television when I entered the house. She turned to me and said, "A second plane just hit the other tower!"

"You're kidding! Then it's true. We ARE under attack!"

My granddaughter was only eleven at the time and she came running from her room shouting, "What Grandma? What did you say? Are we being attacked?"

"No, no, no, Honey! Not us. Men from another country flew airplanes into a building in New York. That's a long way from us."

She settled down on the floor as my daughter and I sat on the sofa. The images were simply terrifying. People with black soot all over them, running, screaming, crying. Then, as if what we were witnessing wasn't bad enough, tears streamed down our faces as we watched the towers crumble like sand castles and fall straight to the ground. Such massive loss of life was unimaginable.

After a couple of hours, I became worried about my granddaughter being exposed to so much death and destruction and my daughter agreed. She took her to her room, made her some lunch and put a Disney movie into the VCR for her to watch. But my daughter and I were glued to the news, waiting for answers.

That night in my prayers, I lifted the victims up to Jesus Christ and pleaded for them and their families. Then, I begged forgiveness for wallowing in self-pity over not having as much money as I wanted. We had food, clothing and shelter. We were all relatively healthy and together. I also confessed my confusion as to how the Savior could allow such a loss. The words, "Not a sparrow falls," came to my mind, and I drifted to sleep.

The next morning, I googled those words and what I read eased my doubts.

"Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." (Luke 12:6)

The images of 9/11 have been etched into the minds of the American people forever. We will not forget... ever.