by Shelly Estill

Created on: September 28, 2009   Last Updated: September 29, 2009

No one can remember 9-11 without visions of the burning towers, the downed aircraft in Pennsylvania, or the scars of the Pentagon in DC rising like a plague to our minds. We were all changed that fateful day. Our scars reopened each time we remember. But, what have we learned?

Some of us learned what was really important to us. We rushed to the phone to call loved ones to make sure they were safe. We ran to our schools to retrieve our children, convinced they were safer with us. Some of us prayed to God for strength. Least fortunate of all, some of us found out our loved ones were gone forever.

I learned most of these things that horrible day. I called my loved ones, fought myself over whether or not I should pick my children up from school, and I prayed a lot. I prayed for those lost, and those left behind.

What I learned above all else was that I do not have it in me to hate. I hate the actions perpetrated on us by those who do hate, I hate the scars our nation endures by these actions, but I cannot hate a whole people. Based on the actions of a few.

Hate was everywhere that day. 'Bomb 'em to the stone age'. 'Kill 'em all'. The hate was everywhere. Our emotions ran rampant. Our injuries exposed to the bitter truth of it all. Our outrage etched into our very souls spilled out toxic, and unyielding. We scrutinized everyone who did not look like us. Our hate was alive that day, her ugly head rearing in all directions seeking a target to blame, to strike at. We were insatiable in our appetites. We wanted revenge, and we wanted it immediately. We needed a target to blame, and take our anger out on.

But, I cannot hate. I will not hate. I will not become that which seeks to destroy us. This is the lesson I learned on 9-11. I learned that they sought to make us like them. They wanted us to hate indiscriminately and strike blindly back at them, at each other. They wanted us to fear one another. They wanted us to question ourselves and each other. They sought to destroy us from the inside out. They wanted to turn us into the terrorists they are. I said 'no'. I hope we all said 'no.'.

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