By Staff
Nearly a year has passed since Hurricane Ivan made landfall and here the Southern regions are again, picking up after a deadly and costly hurricane.
Another landmark passed this weekend – the four-year anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
I remember exactly where I was when I heard about the terrorist attacks.
I was just waking up when I heard a friend yell out that an airplane had hit the Twin Towers in New York. I sat in front of the television in complete awe, watching a massive building crumble to the ground, people aimlessly walking the streets, reporters covered in ash.
I remember getting ready for class and walking into the Haley Center on the campus of Auburn University.
As I walked into the main entrace I saw students and teachers standing huddled together. Some had their arms crossed and were staring blankly at overhead televisions. Others had hands to their mouths, wide-eyed, while some were silently weeping, and a handful were frantically reaching for their cell phones, eager to call home.
Four years later and the nation is still recovering. We, as Americans, pitched in and did the best we could to help those in need.
Now we as a Southern region are approaching another landmark.
Hurricane Ivan was one of the first signs of massive destruction I had seen up close and personally.
It was a day much like this week where it seemed almost ridiculous that a hurricane would hit. So many people seemed unprepared and many today will offer advice on what they would have done differently.
I know what I would have done. Pack up more of my stuff at my beach house and paid a little more attention to my mother, who is a hurricane "veteran." This isn't a joke, she told me.
But, everything we learn is in hindsight and there's nothing we can do but educate and help those who are suffering.
Now, with the victims of Hurricane Katrina, all we can do as a nation is remember what we have, not what we have lost and be there for one another as we have done in the past .
Mary-Allison Lancaster is the Managing editor of the Brewton Standard. She can be reached via e-mail at mlancaster@brewtonstandard.com or by phone at 251.867.4876