Two Thousand Nine Hundred Seventy Four...

Two thousand nine hundred seventy-four.

2,974.

That's the number of people who lost their lives when everything was finally taken into account.  Countless lives were affected by this national tragedy.  Even if you didn't know anybody on those planes, at the World Trade Center, or the Pentagon, you grieved along with those who did.  You stood there in shock, in a daze, just glued to the television or radio. 

Our lives have not been the same since.  My daughter, now eleven, asks what we (her parents) were doing that morning.  "We were just going about our lives," was my reply.  "We watched the morning news, getting ready for work, and couldn't believe what we were seeing on the screen."  She was just over a year old.  She couldn't have understood what was going on then.  But she will learn that what she sees as "normal" now, really wasn't before that Tuesday morning.

Two thousand nine hundred seventy-four.  It is the number of reasons why we never forget what happened ten years ago today.

On this day, the tenth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, my family and I send our prayers to those who lost loved ones that Tuesday morning. 

We pray for those children who lost their parents that day. 

We pray for those children who would never meet their fathers because of the events of that day. 

We pray for the firefighters and policemen and women who risk their lives doing their jobs, running into the face of dangers as many are running in the opposite direction. 

We pray for those servicemen and women fighting for our freedoms away from home, whether or not we agree with the conflicts they battle. 

We pray for our leaders, regardless of their affiliation, that they make the right choices to keep the citizens of our country, and others, safe. 

And finally, we pray for peace.  Peace amongst ourselves as family, as a community, as a nation.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama