9/11 Online Journal

The following thoughts and reflections were left by those wishing to record how they were affected by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.  Return to SMU's Remembrance 9/11.
Comments Name / Hometown Date
I just want to say that the Terrorists tried to shake us but they were not able to. God has the final word! His word is eternal. He has chosen you and me to be his own. He has called us his children, and I pray that as you read this, you accept that Love that comes only from God! Dont focus on what has gone by, focus on the future. Dallas 9/4/2002 10:15:28 AM
As a recent graduate of SMU, I cannot begin to express the support and compassion of the SMU community following the tragic events of September 11th. We will never forget. Annie/Washington DC 9/4/2002 10:23:50 AM
As someone who was on SMU's campus on that fateful day, I want to take the time to express gratitude to the university for staying open. It was a horrific time. We needed you...and you were there for us. Thanks especially to those at the Counseling and Testing Center, those at Perkins Chapel, the administration, and all who gathered at the flag poll with President Turner to try to understand what was happening within those terrible hours previously. Perhaps we will join together once again around the flagpole next week on 9/11/02, as renewed members of a community who held together. The victory was ours. TJ/Salt Lake City 9/4/2002 12:38:22 PM
9-11-01 will be forever be etched in my memory and of my children's memory. Let us all reflect on ourselves as human beings. War and violence is created out of hate, anger and miscommunication. We all need to learn about each other, accept each other and converse. Dialog is healthy. We don't have to agree with each other but we need to talk and have open minds. America took for granted that terror would never happen on US soil. Let us not ever have that mentally again. Why do people in third world countries hate us? What can we do as Americans to change that image foreigners have of us. We are a free, peaceful and loving country yet hated by many foreigners. Let us humble ourselves and turn the 9-11-01 tragedy into something more positive with a message of world peace. Our victims did not die in vain. They are our heroes and let us learn from this tragedy that we all must get along and not lower ourselves to the level of the perpetrators. Let us all come to peaceful terms with this horrible tragedy and try to make our world a better place to live in but not with hate or vengeance. LLCM, Dallas, TX 9/5/2002 11:44:39 AM
I remember with deep gratitude the generosity of spirit within the Religious Life community as campus ministers and chaplains spent the day in prayerful presence with the community of staff and students. God's loving embrace reflected in the words and deeds of the university community held us together throughout that day of tragedy. Let us in our memory rededicate ourselves to a future with trust and hope in our good and loving God. We are blessed! Judy Henneberger, Assistant Chaplain 9/5/2002 2:17:24 PM
As September 11th approaches and I begin to watch the events retraced over and over again on television,it becomes clear to me that I am still there. I am still horrified. I am still grieving. I am grieving for the lives lost. For their families. For their cities. For their countries. However, I do not grieve for me. In my grief for Septmember 11th, I find a constant reminder that I must take responsibility for how I live my life. That I have the choice to persue peace and love and happiness. That I have the power within me to achieve them. MLC/Miami,Fl 9/8/2002 7:46:45 PM
If you're on the SMU campus, please take time for yourself and go see the artwork in the Hughes Trigg Student Center. The piece is very moving and helps to reflect on September 11, 2001 without having to view the images again. Dallas 9/9/2002 9:11:39 PM
As a native New Yorker, and having family in the Washington, D.C. area, 9/11 will be a day I will never forget and remember exactly what I was doing when I found out about the tragedy. At about 8:15AM Central Time, on September 11, 2001 my mother, who works in New Jersey just 20 miles from New York City, woke my up and told me to turn on the television. I was not exactly sure what she meant, but when I turned to NBC, I was stunned. Of course, during the course of the morning, most Americans saw two planes go into the WTC and collapsing, another into the Pentagon and an additional plane went down in Pennsylvania. All I could think about were the people I knew in Manhattan and my family in D.C. I can recall a horrible feeling of pain and anger that came over me and I knew that nothing was ever going to be the same. It is true that nothing since that fateful day will be the same. More than 3,000 people died and there’s nothing we can do about the loss of life, other than remember the victims and their families. The people who have passed are forever in my prayers and they idealize what it means to be a hero. Being in Dallas, on 9/11 made me long to go home, but I had the opportunity to know some wonderful people on this campus that lifted not only my own spirits, but the campus and community as a whole. The Campus Ministries were a lifeline for most students. Without them, I feel most of us would have been lost and confused in our mourning. We all are people of faith; it doesn’t matter if it’s Catholic, Baptist, or Muslim. We need to always remember that we as Americans, not as Texans, Floridians or New Yorkers, have to come together and stay strong and keep the ideas of what the United States of America was founded on, which are morals and the inalienable rights that humans have. We have to have faith in God and know that our fate is in his hands. So we need to look to the future and try to make this world a better place. And GOD BLESS AMERICA! Stephanie Bandy, Student/ Nanuet, New York 9/10/2002 2:29:54 PM
9/11 what can one say? We must carry on. It is our responsibilty to continue as Good Americans and not to forget our history, for the answers to the future come from the past. Dallas 9/10/2002 7:18:00 PM
It's so hard to turn on the tv today, and watch it happen all over again. Although I know it's in the past, it will take me a while to recover. It's not something you just get over. I think I'm just begining to truly grieve. Melissa-Dallas 9/11/2002 1:47:59 PM
I am an SMU alumnus who recently relocated from NYC to LA. Thankfully, I was not in NYC in 2001, but after having spent several years there, felt the awkward and painful distance of being so far away from the place I used to call home. Last year, I devoted one of the broadcasts on my weekly webradio show to those who were more directly influenced by the horror that transpired on that dreadful day. It featured original works by independent singers/songwriters/musicians who wrote songs with heartfelt emotion as a way to deal with the consequences of the terrorist attacks on humanity and the confusion we all felt during that time. I have since archived a few of those songs on my website for all to hear. I will soon be adding a few more recent works and want to thank artists (in general) who are able to articulate the feelings so many of us share in order to unite us in one spirit in good times and in bad. (www.julietteriedl.com) Juliette Riedl / KS - NY - LA 10/11/2002 10:38:49 PM