September 11

Eight years ago today, America was attacked as the day got going.

I was a senior in high school and I was in my second period percussion class. My band director came into the band room after having gone to the office for something and said something bad had happened.

There was a joke or two made but the look on Paul's face displayed the gravity of the situation. I could try and be the next Tolkien and describe the silence that fell on that large space with its great acoustics but that would be pointless.

He flipped the t.v. on and there was the coverage.

The second plane had went into the towers moments before and people were speculating about what had happened.

The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that school did not come to a halt.

I went to the rest of my classes that day and did my work like it was any other day.

Hell, we had band practice that afternoon. It went off without a hitch. We even went to a competition two days after it happened. The flag was at half mast for the entire contest but it went on.

I have read several accounts of what the government was like on that morning and it all seems like it would be a huge cluster fuck working in an agency when an event like this occurs. But it all went on.

When someone asks me what it means to be American, that resilience that we displayed as a nation comes to mind.

There are several nations across this world that are on the brink of collapsing in the next 36 hours (trust me, it's what my thesis research is on), but we took the hit and came back.

God bless those that gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense and aid of their fellow Americans and God bless the United States of America.