Monday, May 2, 2011

The Happenings of 4/30 - 5/1/2011

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This weekend sure had a lot of happenings..

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton..

The killing of Osama Bin Laden...

I'm not going to get into the ethics of killing a terrorist and the repercussions it may cause. Rather, I'm going to just talk about my experiences and feelings of the whole ordeal.

Having lived in California, I always remembered where I was (home) and what I was doing (cooking dinner for my siblings and I) during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. I thought I would never forget that day. Being the oldest but not even a teen, I felt responsible and protective over my siblings. But I was also scared and helpless for I have never been in an earthquake before.

Fast forward to 9/11. I was off from work that day, but woke up early and turned on the TV to watch the news. I felt like I was watching a movie as I watched the plane hit the first twin tower. Smoke billowed up top. There was chaos. And then the building collapsed. I couldn't believe it. I worried about my family in New York, and a friend who was their for a trip.

Thankfully, they were ok. But I was heartbroken over the lives and sense of freedom that were lost. I was angry and felt helpless. I was in my early 20's, on the other side of the country. I did not know anyone personally who died on that day. But like most Americans, that day has marked me for life and affected me in a hundred ways.

And so when people ask why Bin Laden's death should be celebrated if it does not guarantee the end of terrorism and if it may cause more retaliation, I say yes. I am a pediatric nurse, consider myself kind, and believe in God. I am supposed to be sweet and non-judgemental and forgiving, but I can't help but say that justice has been served.

66 years earlier, on the same day that Osama was announced dead, Hitler's death was also declared.

I always like to include pictures on my posts. Couldn't find the pics I took of Ground Zero, when I first went to NYC in 2004. But I did discover some lay-outs I made from that trip. These pics are very old... and way before I ever created this crafty blog.

It was a fun trip, very memorable having a mini-family reunion. I am thankful that nothing happened to my family.

It was tear-jerking having gone to Ground Zero and the museum dedicated to 9/11. Someday, I hope to scrap those pics with a news article from yesterday. HELL YEAH!

And despite 9/11, New York will always be beautiful. I fell in love with it right away, just like I knew I would.

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Anyway, thanks for reading this long post. I hate just having talked about the negative stuff that happened. I'll save the Royal Wedding on another post. I don't know about you but I was also swooning this whole weekend :).

2 comments:

Amy said...

We definitely live in interesting times, don't we?
I've not visited NYC yet but from the looks of your pages and all the fun you had there, I should move it up on my list of places to go. :)

JoAnn V. (http://joboogie.typepad.com) said...

Definitely an event filled weekend.... Lots of highs and lows.

Love how you posted old layouts here. Totally a reminder of what happened 10 years ago, but it's also awesome to see how your scrap-style has changed. :)