United 93

I received an email from one of my readers from last year, asking if Mellisa and I wanted to join him and Levent to see the movie United 93 after our lessons for the day. I hadn't heard much about it, and didn't have any argument in seeing it, so we agreed.

After 2 hours of watching actual footage, as well as reinactments of September 11, 2001, I could not speak. I did not realize, until I looked at Mellisa, that my heart was pounding so hard. She had been, and was, crying...while Pieter and Levent questioned our thoughts on the movie. As I watched people leaving the theater, I realized that Mellisa and I were more than likely the only two people to be so strongly affected by what had just been shown. To the others, it was a piece of American history. To us...it was a day never to be forgotten. A day of fear, panic, and pain. I remember where I was that day. It was the beginning of my third week of freshman year at OC. I walked into my room from class to find my roommate sitting on the bed with the TV on...crying. I didn't understand what I was seeing. In my class, my professor had received an urgent call about his daughter, and had dismissed us early. Come to find out, his daughter was living in New York.

I didn't cry then, and I didn't cry tonight. But my heart is so heavy. After leaving the theater, I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to think, and process everything I had just seen. Those men...those murderers...were doing it for God. They believed, with all their heart, that it was the right thing to do. I think that was the hardest thing for me to understand. How can anyone, in their right mind, think that something like that was what God wanted?? Maybe I haven't done my fair share of research on it...but I can't understand it. Not at all.

There's another movie coming out on September 21 (the date in Europe??) showing the events after the planes crashed into the World Trade Center. I haven't decided yet if I can handle the reality of what happened afterwards. It seems to be extremely focused on the families of those in the fire and police department that died. The preview I saw was heart-wrenching. I don't even know what to say about it. Any thoughts from you?