Let It Be

Last night I was informed that Osama Bin Laden is dead and I was listening to the song above as I found out and I haven't been able to stop listening to this song since. I don't own a television so I don't have instant news. All the news I get, I get after the fact when I read it in online articles. This is so surreal to me. I remember where I was when 9/11 happened. I was late for school. It was my senior year and I had overslept. I was sitting in the bathroom putting on my makeup. I overheard my sister and my parents exclaiming shock and dismay about something that was on the news; I just figured it was political mud-throwing. Not too long after that I heard more exclamations and shock and I went into my parents room to see what was so alarming on the news. That's when I saw the feed of the second plane crashing into the second World Trade Center tower. I couldn't believe my eyes, it was so bizarre to see a plane fly into a building. My parents informed me that two planes collided into these buildings and that there was speculation that it could be terrorist activity.

I walked back into the bathroom and absent mindedly brushed through my hair as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. I kept thinking to myself, "What if it is a terrorist attack?" And then I would quickly console myself by brushing away the idea as absurd. But, the reflection in the mirror that stared back at me was that of a frightened teenager. I woke up that morning feeling like a woman and on top of the world and... dare I say it? Like a mature adult. The girl staring back at me in the mirror was a frightened child. My mother hugged me and kissed my cheek as she ushered me out the door to school. I remember her hug was lingering and when she kissed my cheek, her thumb lingered on my cheek bone as she stared into my eyes. I told her I was scared and she told me, "It will all be alright. I'll see you when you get home sweetheart." And then she hugged me once more and I left for school.

As I drove to school, my eyes were not on the road, rather they were on the sky watching for any rogue airplanes that might drop at any second. I know that sounds absurd. Why would Al Qaeda spend it's time focusing on the small town I grew up in... a town whose biggest threat are the boys that tip over the farmer's cows at night... silly pranks. But I was convinced that a plane would fall from the sky and that it would land on my town. When I got to school I walked through the empty halls and heard the televisions blaring in every room, all on the same news station. There was silence, no obnoxious students giving their teachers hell... no roudy rooms where a teacher is trying in vain to regain control of their clas... the only sound was that of the same news anchor reporting the events that changed the world within the last 5 hours.

When I was a nanny in New York, the people I worked for told me first hand their experience on 9/11. They had lost loved ones and dear friend in the attack on the World Trade Centers. They knew of children who had been fostered out because both their parents were in those buildings. The father of the children I nannied cried as he spoke of being trapped in a city that was being attacked and not being able to get home to his family for 18 hours because all the roads were closed and pandemonium ensued wherever you went. He was only blocks away from where the towers fell and he lost a cousin who was in the building. When he tried to leave the city, all the bridges were closed off and people were running helter skelter in every direction. Las officials didn't know who to protect and where the threat was coming from. No one trusted anyone, yet everyone helped complete strangers to get to safety.

The only reason I relive all of this is because... it's come to a close. I remember my grandmother relating to me the events of Pearl Harbor. She told me that every generation would experience a moment in their life where the world as they've come to know it will change drastically because of war. She told me, "You will remember everything about the moment when you heard the news that war has been declared." War was declared and one man was on everyone's hit-list because of the hate that he spread and for nearly 10 years the entire world's focus has been on attaining this man. And now he's dead. So, where does that leave us? Can we finally move on? Can healing take place in the lives of those children who lost both parents for reasons they don't yet understand? Will the politicians finally stop pointing fingers for political gain? What have we learned from any of this? I don't know the point of this post. All I know is that the man that held all the answers is dead... what is the goal now? Hopefully it's peace, but is peace really possible? I guess we'll find out with the next generation.