911

A rush of silence quickly filled the room on September 11, as the TV went on. A woman in her late thirties fell to the ground as she started praying. Sirens blared through the streets of New York. Busy business women and men stopped talking on their cell phones and took a moment to see the twin towers collapse. These were the latest images and headlines on CNN news, as my entire grade six class gathered around the TV.

The images seemed like your typical Hollywood story…but it wasn’t. This was exactly like a nightmare. How could this have happened? There are no exact words to put in as to how petrifying this event was. All these people died innocently and horribly disfigured. The possibility of dying in your sleep peacefully was shattered. The young whom had long term goals ahead of them had no more possibilities ahead of them. Some people might say that we must take revenge and fight a war against Iraq. However, will that make up for the lives that have been lost?

It never occurred to me how painful death can be until I experienced the death of a loved one about two years ago. I would never forget how my grandfather had tried so hard to keep breathing, but his lungs had collapsed. His eyes stared back at me. His entire body was frozen like a rock. Tears ran down my cheeks uncontrollably until it hit the floor. I didn’t care. I struggled to breath and my mind was numb. We were expecting him to come home with us and welcome him with his favourite plants. Unfortunately, it never happened. Devastated and outraged, I had to run and hide. I had to insulate myself from the excruciating pain. I withdrew from life, friends, school. The pain, emptiness and feeling of loneliness were as real as the emotions that were experienced from September 11 or any other war. Now that my grandfather is gone, life still goes on. I have many things I want to say to him, but choke at my own words