Today is Friday, and usually that means capping off the working week with a series of facts belonging to a theme that inspires me on the day.
Only…
As well as it being Fun Fact Friday, today marks the 25th anniversary of 9/11. Call me soft cheese on hot toast, but given the weight of this one – and having watched countless video clips about it this week alone – any theme I choose would be half-hearted at best.
And I’m NOT about to dig up facts about that dark chapter just to keep things topical.
No, sir.
So it’s called off this week.
What I will say is there are few events in history that freeze time so completely that everyone remembers where they were when the news broke.
9/11 was one of those moments.
For me, I was walking home from primary school, just like any other afternoon. I burst through the front door to the usual welcome from Ben, our big, burly German Shepherd (God rest his soul), and found my dad sitting in front of the TV, watching the news before his night shift.
Only, this time instead of jeering at politicians during Prime Minister’s Questions, he was hunched forward in his armchair with a panned expression.
There, plastered on the screen were images that would be seared into memory forever:
Of two towers torching a blue sky and sending plumes of jet-black smoke into the atmosphere; of people – in shirts, ties, dresses, and uniforms of all kinds – fleeing Manhattan.
The terror on their faces. The frantic calls to loved ones…
The whole world stopped that day.
I remember the morning of the 12th clearly.
Our headmaster had called a school assembly first thing in the morning and had us all pray (back when state schools were faith-led) for the victims and their families forever shattered that day.
It felt like weeks before that sombre, solemn shadow left us all, so I can only imagine what it was like for those on the other side of the pond.
Even at that tender age, I knew what we had witnessed was something that would be remembered for decades to come.
And I wasn’t wrong.
Even now, as we gear up for the 25th anniversary, every time I see those clips or watch a documentary on 9/11, it’s like watching it for the first time.
Yet as tragic a day it was, as ugly and evil it showed we can be to one another, I also saw courage, kindness, and solidarity that only the darkest hours can give birth to.
It’s this contrast that gives me hope that good always prevails even in the face of devastating loss.
And it’s this contrast – this good vs evil – I try to weave into my fantasy realms, like The Divided Region.
You’ll find heroes that have sinned, villains who aren’t entirely evil, and a world that can give in one hand and take in the other. Sometimes cruelly and without reason. Yet, threaded into it are also moments of light, laughter, and hope.
If that sounds like the type of fantasy you enjoy reading, then you can grab the ebook or audiobook bundle here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/TDR-Bundle
And the paperback bundle here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/tdr-paperback-bundle
Have a great weekend, Legionnaires.
Stay classy out there and don’t forget to let your loved ones know how much they mean to you in whichever way comes most natural to you.
DJJW