I was living in Costa Rica on 9/11. Upon arriving at my kids school that morning, I was greeted with the news.
Parents and teachers, gathered in the school library to watch the morning news unfold on CNN.
Except for the sounds of the TV, there was silence. All gathered in horror, shock and the inability to believe what we were watching.
What impressed me on that day, and those that followed, was that this attack was not only on America. It was on the world.
There I sat, in Costa Rica, and heard story after story of families who were waiting to hear if their loved one’s were alright.
One of my son’s classmates was a Japanese girl. Her aunt, pregnant at the time, was in the second plane that flew into the World Trade Center.
Another child had an uncle, a Costa Rican, who worked on one of the top floors. His family never received a frantic phone call. They never found out where exactly he was when he was killed.
The school my children attended made banners and cards to send to New York. For, this was not a tragedy limited to the United States. It affected every country and every family who had loved ones living near the accident scenes, or was on those planes.
It affected every airport in every country. We were not permitted to even enter the airport in Costa Rica without a ticket. Security worldwide tightened. Fear spread through every nation.
While I heard of churches in the United States having record attendances and prayer meetings through out my nation, I experienced it overseas. For, our church was also overflowing that week and people of many ethicnicities were brought to their knees.
While the target of this terrorist attack was the people of the United States, it was not limited to them. With immigration, tourism, wealth and international business, we are truly a blend of peoples and nationalities. The Taliban chose the world to attack on 9/11/2001.