After reading, hearing stories and watching TV coverage about 9/11, I just couldn’t not write about it on my blog. At the end of the day, the consequences of that awful human catastrophe directly affected me, as someone who aspires to become a professional travel blogger. Endless lines in airports, the subconscious fear I feel when I see odd-looking, unattended objects in public places, and many other things made our lives more complicated, hopeless and fragile after that disastrous Tuesday.
Fortunately, nobody was killed or hurt in my family or among my friends, but watching the horrible footage and images from Ground Zero that day made me ache no less than the people directly involved in this tragedy. And today, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I just felt like I needed to get it out and devote this post entirely to that awful day.
I was 15 back then, and was living in central Russia (my motherland). I remember that day so well. I can still see myself waking up in my dad’s country house. It was a beautiful autumn morning. I made my way to the kitchen, where I was planning on preparing a delicious, rustic breakfast for my family. I turned on the TV to peruse some morning news–as my dad liked me being his personal media monitoring assistant before he’d go to work. I saw the insane footage of a plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers, and thought to myself, “Oh no, not another Tom Cruise / Arnold Schwarzenegger Hollywood blockbuster” (not a big fan), until I realized, as if I was in a slow motion universe, that all of that was for real… A mixture of horror, hopelessness, confusion and a bunch of other indescribable emotions made me stand in front of the TV for a while, until I started accepting the harsh truth of reality.
Ten years have passed but nothing and no one is forgotten. And today, I am proud to live in the country that managed to cope with the shock, this unimaginable human tragedy and move forward as a stronger, more united nation. How do you commemorate this day? Please share your thoughts and comments!
