September 11, 2001

BY CAROLE NICHOLS


I didn't know when I woke up today
My peaceful life would be taken away.
The sun was warm and the skies blue,
The air was fresh, the day was new.

Evil lay waiting unknown to us all,
In horror we watched the towers fall;
We watched our world burn and crumble,
And hero's all buried in the rubble.

There came a crying from coast to coast,
Our friends and family, all loved ones lost.
When silence filled the American sky,
There came a resolve, terrorism must die.




The United States of America was attacked today. It wasn't just an attack on New York and Washington, but an attack on all of us. Nothing will ever be the same for us again; nothing will ever be the same for the world again. My heart aches for the families of the victims of the most horrific terroristic attack in history. I have been very sad, very afraid, and very angry. And I am most certainly not alone.

Our way of life has changed forever. How we view the world has changed forever. My child will now have to grow up with an intimate knowledge of war, fear, want, hate, and uncertainty. She will have to learn to look over her shoulder.

Yet, out of this has come something else she has never known. I can see a fierce pride in her eyes in who she is...an American. I see her compassion for others come alive, and her patriotism now has deeper meaning. She will learn how truly dear our freedom is, and why we must always fight for those freedoms. She is learning that we must stand united, and put our petty bickering aside.

I will pray for the families who have lost loved ones and friends, and I will pray for our armed forces who must now embark on a mission that will be very difficult to accomplish. But I believe in God, and I believe in the American people. We will endure, and we will succeed. I pray for peace of heart, firm resolve, and unshakeable faith. May God continue to bless the United States of America!