While I Was Eating Breakfast, the World Changed Forever

by Paul Uhl

Few events in our lives are so vividly burned into our memories that we can remember them years or decades later. Whether it's a first love, high achievement, personal milestone, near-death experience, or loss of a loved one - these events are forever etched into our psyche. Often these experiences cause us to pause and reflect on values and a way of life previously unexamined. Such an event happened on September 11, 2001.

I remember vividly while I was watching "Good Morning America", the sequence unfolded that was to forever forge our collective memory. Just as I was crunching my second spoonful of corn flakes, I saw the first plane crash into the World Trade Center. It was so incredible to me to see it "live" on TV that at first I thought of Orson Wells' prank radio broadcast "War of the Worlds" invasion of the world by Martians. Then, as I was lifting the next spoonful of breakfast, the second plane hit the other tower. Suddenly, it hit me that we had actually been attacked!

Over the next few hours it became clear just how serious this attack had been, and the careful planning that went into the intended destruction of the symbols of democracy. The Pentagon, White House, and other symbolic and strategic institutions were also intended targets of the attack.

Just as the attack on Pearl Harbor precipitated our entry into WWII, the attempted assassination of hope and innocence in killing President John F. Kennedy grieved our nation, and the defiance of an empire by people yearning to breath free broke up the former USSR, so it follows this latest assault on the beacon of freedom underscores that the cost of our way of life is eternal vigilance.

The world is a much more dangerous place than it ever has been in history, and it is getting progressively more so. The declaration during WWI by President Woodrow Wilson in innocence and naivety that we were fighting a "war to end all wars" contrasts sharply with Vice-President Cheney's resolution that the war against terrorism may last decades.

That one day in September, 2001 changed our lives and the world as we knew it. It will never be the same again. The innocent lives that were lost, the selfless sacrifices, and the heroism shown will be forever etched in our collective memories. The gratitude of a nation and freedom-loving people of the world is emblazoned within the nadir of smoke and horror in remembrance of innocents lost, to the height of swift justice and rightful wrath against those responsible for the unprovoked attacks.

The whole world changed, right before my eyes, as I was eating breakfast. And I will never forget it.

                       Try To Remember

          Try to remember the kind of September
          When life was slow and oh so mellow
          Try to remember the kind of September
          When grass was green and grain so yellow
          Try to remember the kind of September
          When you were a young and a callow fellow
          Try to remember and if you remember
          Then follow--follow, oh-oh

          Try to remember when life was so tender
          That no one wept except the willow
          Try to remember when life was so tender
          That dreams were kept beside your pillow
          Try to remember when life was so tender
          That love was an ember about to billow
          Try to remember and if you remember
          Then follow--follow, oh-oh

(Artists: The Kingston Trio-from their 1963 LP "The Kingston Trio #16")