Believe it or not, and it can be tough to grasp, but it’s been six years now since an ordinary Tuesday morning became a living hell on earth for so many Americans.
Six years since the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked. Six years since some ordinary people became heroes by crashing a plane in Pennsylvania, instead of its intended target, whatever that may have been.
Six years since two numbers stood for more than a date, but a change in history.
For many of us, for many of our own reasons, it’s a day that will never be forgotten.
For me, the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001 was spent on the football practice field at Albion College. It was as eerie of a feeling as you could imagine. The sky above, as blue and clear as could be, was simply quiet. Usually a plane of some sort made its way past, but not on this day.
Talk at practice, while limited, had little to do with our scheduled game that weekend. As a matter of fact, we didn’t even know if we’d be playing.
Plays at practice, while still executed, carried less weight than they usually did. Incomplete passes, missed tackles and dropped balls were just mistakes, nothing more.
It was the first time in a long time that sports for me, and the rest of the country, were put on hold.
Instead, it was phone calls home, prayers in church or just watching the news unfold.
If we think back to that awful day and the weeks following, after a few days off games at all levels resumed, but the meaning of the games changed a bit.
Instead of wins and losses, just playing the game was celebrated. Being in the stands with strangers, having the ability to cheer and boo, having that freedom slowly restored.
Never did I think sports could bring a country together in the small ways that it did. Never did I think I could watch an entire Yankees game and spend more time watching the crowd than the actual game itself. Never before did I think that the playing and singing of the national anthem could, all by itself, force me to stand in front of my TV with tears in my eyes.
Think about those days this week and this weekend. Think about that as you sit in the gym cheering on your volleyball team, or when you crowd into the bleachers around the football field.
Get caught up in the game. Celebrate the good plays, go nuts for victories. It’s our freedom as Americans to get worked up over something as trivial, yet important, as sports.
A freedom that couldn’t be stopped, not even six years ago.
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It's our privilege as Americans, living in freedom, that allows us the luxury of getting worked up over something as trivial, yet important as sports.
The luxury continued, because it inherently defines the very freedom it allows, which can never be stopped, not even six years ago. Not ever. All the terrorists did is provide us with new ways to express the privilege of our freedom.
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