end of the darkest days
3520 days ago, a dark cloud covered New York City. Tonnes of ash covered a very changed Manhattan skyline as the world mourned the felling of the World Trade Center towers, killing thousands of people from every walk of life, more or less every continent on Earth and touching an entire generation. As did Washington D.C. with plane fuselage poking out of the side of the Pentagon, the very epicentre of American safety. As well as Pennsylvania, where the bravery of a handful of passengers stopped the day becoming darker than what it was.
September 11th 2001 was the day the world changed, and I still remember the abject horror I witnessed as I got in from school that day. When I seen the television I turned to my brother, who as a primary school pupil at the time had already been home for about an hour, and asked what disaster film was on. My jaw hit the ground with a thud when I was told that is was live footage from New York. I sat with the rest of my family as the horror unfolded and not just a nation, but a world united against a common threat.
Fast forward 3519 days, and the mastermind behind the most atrocious attack on human life since the Holocaust has finally been taken out of the equation. Osama bin Laden has been the thorn in America’s side for around two decades, and it’s most wanted man for most of the last 10 years. The justice served as US Marines stormed his compound in Abbottabad isn’t sweet, but it is the dawning of a new day. As William Hague, Hilary Clinton and many others around the world have stated, this is not the end of al-Qaeda. However the mere fact that the lynch pin has been taken down will allow scores of families to finally put their loved ones to rest, and the world to move on. The fact that it happens in the same year as the tenth anniversary of the attacks makes it much more poignant.
When September 11th rolls around this year, let us hope there can be remembrance, reflection and relief. Remembrance of the many who are gone and those who have laid down their lives trying to make the world safer. Reflection on the changes made to the world in the 10 years since that fateful day. And relief that the person culpable has now finally met a most fitting end. This isn’t the end for the rest of us though, but at least we may now be able to move forward.
