A More Serious Note

As you probably know from reading my blog, I don't often (maybe ever?) write about "important" things.  I mean much of the stuff I write about is important to me, but in the grand scheme of your life, my trip to Iceland probably isn't too important to you.  There are very few people I will discuss politics, religion, important issues etc with.  Chances are you'll never see my blog about any "big issues" and the only political thing I'll likely blog about is how I am SO SICK of getting political phone calls to vote for this candidate or take a survey sponsored by that candidate.  And it's not because I have extreme views on stuff, if anything, I am obnoxiously indecisive.  Like make a decision all ready Cat!  That and I don't like controversy so I don't want to cause any or get into any disagreements with anyone.  But as I sit here blogging on 9/11, watching the news tributes to 9/11 victims, soldiers, police officers, fire fighters, etc and since I heard "Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning" recently, like many others I can't help but stop to think about 9/11 for a minute.  They say our generation will always remember where we were on that date.  I was in a small town in Canada.  I was actually in a class (ironically an American Art class in Canada) and I found out from my friend Mel shortly after that class.   Either I called her or she called me to make lunch plans for that afternoon.  She asked if I'd heard about the plane crash.  I thought she said a plane crashed into a tower or something, but I didn't catch all of what she said.  I said no and didn't think much of it.  She didn't give a lot of details because she didn't have them and I didn't ask.  However, a little later I put on the news and realized this wasn't just any plane crash.  We all know the rest of the story so I don't need to go on, but I will say this, when I think back to that time, I always remember how nice all the Canadians were right after the event.  My new friends--I'd only known these people for about three weeks (from Canada, Australia, and Europe) checked up on me to make sure I was okay and to see if I knew anyone in that area.  I was fine and I didn't know anyone in any of the areas where the planes crashed. Some professors canceled classes for the day, other professors discussed the tragedy in their class to see how people were handling it, and the school had a memorial service to honor those killed in 9/11.  The stores and businesses in town all took several moments of silence one morning to honor the victims.  I was in what would be similiar to our CVS and they just stopped service for a few minutes and asked everyone to take a moment of silence to remember those who died/were injured. 
It was touching to see how kind our neighbors to the north could be.  Anyway, I'm sure everyone has their own stories, memories, etc, but that's one of mine that I remember as I also take a moment to think about the victims of that day.  And thanks to the heros of that day (fire, police, ambulance, soliders, etc).