September 11th revisited

Someone bombed the city of London today.

I've been there. Right there. Where the video cameras are. Where the people died.

And I don't know how people get to that point. The point where they kill innocent people. I don't know why I seem so surprised when bad things happen because I know we live in a fallen world. But even though I know that I think that at times I'd rather live in the very "unreal" world of ignoring all the sadness and anger.

And I guess I shoudl call it what it is. Sin. I don't think people like to use that word. Sin. But that's what it is.

Of course the news broadcast reminded me of September 11th. I'm sure that my generation will always be able to tell you exactly where they were when they heard the news.

As for me, I was sitting in a sales meeting on Leeds Avenue in Charleston, SC. I remember one of the sales managers rudely taking a call off to the side of the room during our morning Rah-Rah meeting. He hung up and whispered that there had been an explosion in NYC. I remember thinking it odd. Then another phone call (it was his mom calling). By that poing, we realized we needed to interrupt the meeting. The pentagon was on fire.

I don't remember how I got there. Literally was shaking as I was running out the door of the office onto the stairs. My dad. He was in DC. He never goes to DC. The lines were busy.

Then I called my mom. She hadn't heard. She turned on the news. We knew it was terrorist. My sister was in LA. We knew LA would be a target. Mom, call her and wake her up.

My office was close to the air force base. I remember seeing planes coming in from every angle as the emergency landings began. I remember the ground shaking as the F-15s flew over head.

My family was fortuntaely all safe. But... I spent the next two days in front of the TV crying.

The world changed for me in those days.

Maybe because I am still young. However, I just kept thinking: I guess every generation sees this. My parents witnessed Vietnam. My grandparents Pearl Harbor.

And when I sit in awe at how things happen. I don't know why I'm surprised that it's a fallen world. This isn't the garden of Eden. This isn't pre-Satan. Now don't get me wrong. I dont think America is God and the Taliban sinned against us. No. I jsut mean. It's a world that's fallen.

In college, I remember the first week I had to write about what my worldview was. My world what... well. I think I have a world view to write about. I think it changed that day on September 11th.