Stand

This morning, I was looking through the media that I saved from September 11, 2001. As I looked at the TIME magazine from that day, I remembered exactly where I was and how I learned of the tragedy. I did cry a little. On that day, I was in my classroom teaching Reading, when the Social Studies teacher ran in and told me to turn on the TV. I turned it on in time to see the first tower smoking. Then all of a sudden we both spotted the second plane coming into sight and smash into the second tower. Time stood still for a bit. Even my middle-schoolers realized that this was very serious, no time to clown in class. A foreign entity thought to make us fall that day. They failed. As I looked at the pictures in the magazine, I prayed for the survivors of that terrible day in history. There was a caption that read 'Terror's Orphan's". I prayed for those children. I prayed and cried a little more for those that can probably still feel and smell the ash that fell on their  arms and faces. The back cover of the magazine has a picture of the Statue of Liberty still standing strong. Recently we have made a mess of ourselves internally, but we still stand as a nation.
September 11 is momentous for me in another, far more personal way. September 11, 1998 I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, . Since 2001, I have made sure to keep the TV off. There is no mention of the horrors of the attacks. I maintained that 9/11 was a tragic day in history. September 11th is Ben's birthday. He still gets a party and treats. The day is his to celebrate. Then came middle school, and I must let the day be the day that happened.  Like America, Ben has faced many difficult challenges. Times of feast and of famine. Times when there were those that come to bully. So does America. Yet, they both still stand. Benjamin is strong and tall now. He is turning into quite a young man. He has mastered many trials by God's grace. I have hope that America will also triumph over her own struggles, I choose to believe that America will stand.