SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

From Teletubbies to Terror

Struggling to make sense of the two worlds I see

It’s early morning September 11, 2001 and I’m struggling to make sense of the two worlds I see

My 2-year-old sits in the basement watching four happy fuzzy beings hug each other playfully and share their tubby custard

In their world the sun rises as a beautiful giggling baby face over a hillside filled with green grass and flowers

But here I sit watching four sleek rigid airplanes crash into buildings and an open field

In the real world the sun rises equally as beautiful over grey damaged structures and a country filled with confusion and terror

And I struggle to make sense to understand to connect the dots to wrap my head around the two worlds I see

How can it even be possible for the human heart to be capable of both love and happy innocence and such hate-filled horror

kasey sparks, © 2021

This poem may be an oversimplification of the day's events, but for a brief moment that day, this is how I felt. I was completely dumbfounded — trying to make sense of it all.

As my toddler watched the Teletubbies on his screen in the basement, my head struggled to process the enormity of what was unfolding on my screen.

The two worlds were so incongruent.

How is this even possible? How can the human heart be capable of creating such extremes?

Those were the questions I asked over and over that day — a day that shattered my innocence of what people are capable of thinking and doing. I suppose my world had been more like Teletubbyland pre 9/11. But on that day, the ground beneath me shook. My rose-colored glasses suffered major cracks.

In my heart, I still hold on to hope. But as many have said, after that day, the world will never look quite the same again.