America

Today is September 11, 2012.

I remember this calendar day when I was in sixth grade, because I woke up to find my mom's eyes riveted to the tv as a building was going up in flames. "What happened?" I asked. "I don't know," she said simply. That was it, because I had to get ready for school. I remember my teacher, Mrs. Barnette, turning on the news periodically and telling us that this was the first time an act of war occurred on our soil, except for Pearl Harbor. We didn't know what that meant, or what was going on in New York that day, but we understood it was important.

Only later did we realize the horror of that day, and about all of the men and women who lost their lives.

"Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it." I'm not sure where the phrase comes from, but it has stuck with me through the years. My generation was given a gift, a jolt if you will, on that day because we remember it so clearly. I know older generations remember when Kennedy was assassinated. What will our younger generations have? As a human race, we tend to forget things so easily. We forget big things, little things, even in-between things. I hope we don't forget   that day.

I also hope we keep in mind that we live in a country of relative ease. This Sunday after church, Scot and I had lunch with my favorite ASU professor, the lady I learned Hebrew from. We were discussing politics, and she couldn't believe how different things are here than in Israel, where she's from. She said that when she first arrived here in America, it annoyed her that the first thing she saw on the news was the weather. She couldn't believe how shallow the news stories seemed. She kept waiting for world news, but it just wasn't there. Scot and I exchanged a look, and she explained that in Israel everyone is pretty much every hour tuned into the news. That at any minute there could be a war with Iran, and here we are concerned with the fact that it's raining. But then, she expressed that it is nice not to have to live on the edge of your seat all the time. That the atmosphere here is just, well, very different.

She has a point. I don't know of anyone building bomb shelters, or worried about gas masks, or if the concrete holding up the houses and buildings is strong enough to withstand attack. We are of course concerned with the elections, but honestly whether Romney or Obama wins, we can still live out our daily lives with little or no interruption.

That is unique. Valuable. Precious. Today, my heart goes out to the families of those Americans who lost their lives that day, and to the ones protecting us from such things today. Thank you.