@JayJayasuriya

I was in my final year at Gordon-Conwell. It was a beautiful morning–sunny, deep blue, not a cloud in the sky. I had an early morning class on that Tuesday. Maybe it was Minor Prophets, something with Hebrew I think. I made the short walk across campus to my dorm room and picked up the phone. I had to check with my church. Something about a bulletin announcement or the preaching schedule. The church was in between pastors at the time, and I was helping out with some of the scheduling and some of the preaching. As it turned out, I was glad not to be preaching the next Sunday. My friend on the phone asked me what I thought about the plane that had just crashed into the Twin Towers. I had no idea what he was talking about. This was 2001. I didn’t own a cell phone. I had no t.v. in my dorm room. Most of the time I went to the computer lab to check my email. We hung up the phone and I decided to figure out what had happened–probably one of these prop plane accidents. Didn’t John Denver

via phandroid.com I know we’ve all thought to ourselves: what would we do in a situation where we can’t dial 911? Whether it be because your assailant would hear you or because you don’t have enough time to get the phone out and dial, it’s a valid question.

via 25.media.tumblr.com

One of the most haunting images captured from 9/11, it shows a man free-falling after he has jumped from one of the windows of North Tower. He was one of the people they call “Jumpers”, who chose to jump to their death rather than get suffocated by the smoke or get buried under the rubble. Some called them cowards, while some sensationalized them as tragic symbols of 9/11. But the fact of the matter is, it was a hard choice for anyone to make, and one can not really judge the decisions a person makes in times like these. People, you rant so much about how you have a hard time making choices. Whether you should work on your assignment or go out with your friends. Whether you should date this guy or that guy. Whether you should break up with your boyfriend or not. Whether you should wear the pink blouse or the baby blue one.  Imagine the choice this man had to make.

We shall never forget We shall keep this day, We shall keep the events and the tears In our minds, our memory and our hearts and take them with us as we carry on.     I’ve been thinking, the last few days, about how we should commemorate 9/11. It was such a pivotal time in history, especially for my generation. I was twenty-three when the Towers fell. I remember it being the moment we no longer felt isolated and safe in America. All the bad news had always happened overseas. Our wars were fought across a big ocean. But on 9/11 the enemy pierced that bubble and attacked us at the heart of our financial district. I remember reading, over and over again, Psalm 46: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad th

via nymag.com In five short days, it'll have been ten long years since 9/11. A lot's changed in the past decade—not the least of which is the way we digest information—and NY Mag's guide to the day captures it all. The site itself isn't comprehensive—how could it be?—instead sorting the terrorist attacks and surrounding cultural geyser into neat lists, breakdowns, and roundups. It reads less like a shelf encyclopedia, and more like Wikipedia. Links everywhere, graphics, reader feedback. It's heartbreaking, locked in the past, and entirely current.