terror | RobertLovesPi.net

Here’s the main thing I remember about that day. I was teaching 9th graders when the attacks occurred.

Student, 12 years ago today: “Mr Austin! Mr. Austin! Turn on the TV! Someone just flew an airplane into the World Trader Center!”

Me: “Yeah, RIGHT.” I was finally convinced to turn it on — just in time to see the second plane hit the other tower.

I don’t think I’ll ever live THAT one down. I had to spend the rest of the workday trying to reassure my students that Mayflower, Arkansas had zero strategic importance, and that they could relax about their fears of their small town being the next target. This was not easy.

The boiling anger set in after I no longer had to take care of students, and remained with me for days. Many (or most) Americans experienced this same emotion.

(Note: I usually don’t post the writing of others, but learned that incorrect lyrics for this beautiful — and horrifying — song are all over the Internet. These are corrected, and if I have erred, even slightly, please correct me with a comment. This song is from the Lips’ new CD, The Terror, highly recommended in its entirety.)

Always there, in our hearts, fear of violence and of death
Always there, in our hearts, there is love and there is pain
Always there, in our hearts, there is evil that wants out
Always there, in our hearts, there are sorrows and sadness
Always there, in our hearts, never understanding
Always there, in our hearts, something pure that we can’t control
Can’t control, can’t control, can’t control

Always there, in our hearts, destroying everything we know
Always there, in our hearts, not forgiving them, who are we?
Always there, in our hearts, shame that we are all powerless
Always there, in our hearts, joy of life and overwhelmed
Overwhelmed, overwhelmed, overwhelmed, overwhelmed, overwhelmed

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Here is a music video for the song, also. The visual part of the video was created by Ben Maddox, and my source is his YouTube channel.