9/11

Mr. Higgins and I were watching a 9/11 documentary the other night and it's still on my mind.

For those of you who don't know... I landed in Frankfurt the morning of 9/11. About four hours later, we got word of the tragedy happening in New York. It was a surreal experience watching the BBC play and replay what had happened. Due to a crazy schedule, none in our group saw the Twin Towers get hit or fall in real time. I felt completely disconnected from my country and the emotions of my countrymen. All I could do was stare at the TV, all night long, and try (and re-try) to get through to my parents in the US (all the phone lines were jammed).

I can't say that it was bad to be overseas. The show of support by Germans, Austrians, and Czechs was amazing. They always asked us where we were from and we would mutter "Texas," so far from NYC, and they would still say, "I'm so sorry." Tributes of candles and flowers popped up around various memorials and US embassies. It was an amazing experience that proved how ignorant we are to not think in a global mindset. These people felt our pain.

And so it is both educational and difficult for me to watch documentaries recounting the sequence of events on that day. One new bit of info (for me) which was surprising.... Al Qaeda was planning to assassinate the late Pope John Paul II. This is just appalling to me. I can understand wanting to assassinate presidents and prime ministers, but the pope?! I mean, there was the bit with the Crusades but the Muslims won those, in the long run.

It's all a mystery to me - any kind of fundamentalism. It is the mark of ignorance and nothing is scarier than that.