World Turned Upside Down

posted on : September 11, 2021

11 September 2021 – Twenty years ago today, our world turned upside down. We all remember where we were and what we were doing when we heard about what was happening and how we felt. I was at work and a coworker came in shaking his head telling me that some idiot had flown into the World Trade Center. He and those around us were sure it was just a terrible accident caused by idiocy, I didn’t. Too many things had happened in my short life for me to not think the worst. Before the second plane hit, I was already on my way to pick my kids from school and take them home. It wasn’t the first time I had felt the world turned upside down.

When I was in elementary school, first through fourth grade, we lived in Germany at Rhein-Main Air Force Base in Frankfurt. While we were living there a few things were happening in the world. The Middle East was a warzone. The Lebanese Civil War was raging. Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq. Soviet troops invade Afghanistan to prop up a Communist leader. Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran and Iranian militants seize the U.S. embassy in Tehran and took 52 hostages and kept them for 444 days. Iraq invades Iran and an eight-year war ensues. President Reagan and Pope John Paul II are both shot. Every single day, the news and the newspaper were covered with devasting pictures and stories.

I remember the security at the air force base was tight, similar to bases following 9/11. Every adult in the car had to show ID and they were searching cars. For a young child, this was scary and despite being a pretty mature child, I was still a child. My dad was gone a lot during those years and I can’t imagine how my mother felt. During these years I felt my world turn upside down over and over again. I didn’t understand the world outside my home and my school.

The 52 Iranian hostages were freed when I was in the third grade. When this happened, a few amazing things happened in my life. The hostages were immediately sent to the military hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany to be examined, nursed back to health and debriefed. They flew into Rhein-Main AFB and we were there on the flight line with former President Carter to greet them. A girl from my class was the daughter of the base commander and she stood with President Carter and her dad at the podium that day. Her father and my teacher Ms. Hoblitzell then gave me and my class a great gift. Our teacher had us paint a sign for the hostages and thanks to my classmate’s father, the next day she took our class to the hospital to meet them. Decked out in yellow ribbons and holding our sign, my third-grade class welcomed them home. Ms. Hoblitzell had a black poodle named PJ that she brought to school with her every day and he went with us to the hospital. One of the former hostages, Bob Ode, had poodles at home so they became quick friends. Our class became penpals with Mr. Ode and we exchanged letters for months after that day. This experience was important to a young girl like me because it gave me hope that even when the world turned upside down, it could be righted and there could be smiles at the end.

Of course, this was not the last time the world turned upside down. This list is not all-inclusive, it’s just the events that affected me personally.

1983, a terrorist explosion in Beirut kills 237 U.S. Marines – I felt the same feelings I had been feeling in Germany just a few years before
1986, the Challenger exploded – my fourth grade teacher had been one of the finalists to be the teacher in space so I was enamored with the space shuttle and this mission in particular
1988, a terrorist bomb destroys a Pan-Am 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people – the first terrorist act I remembered outside of “terrorist countries”
1989, the Chinese army attacks protesters in Tiananmen Square and kill thousands who want democracy – watching people be killed for something I believed in was extremely scary
1990-91, Iraq invades Kuwait igniting the Persian Gulf War – Dave was in the Air Force and the reality was he and his fellow airmen would be headed over there.
1992, Los Angeles erupts in riots after Rodney King is videotaped being beaten by police – this was my first experience with violence by the police
1995, fighting escalates in Bosnia and Croatia – the following year Dave was deployed to Bosnia to setup and operate the flight line radar to bring in soldiers and supplies to aid in relief efforts. We believe Dave’s lungs became compromised by the asbestos, dust and other toxins he was breathing over there.
1995, the Oklahoma City federal building was bombed in retaliation for the Branch Davidian standoff – we had just received orders from the Air Force and we were moving to Oklahoma City in a couple of months
1999, the Columbine High School massacre occurs, the beginning of a horrible trend that shows no sign of stopping – this happened in the county that my parents grew up in and where they live and my aunt was one of the people who had to go into the school in the following days and weeks to assess things

Since 9/11 many more things have happened in the world that have caused me to feel the world turned upside down. Every time these things happen, we get angry and we come together, sometimes more than others. Eventually, we forget and we become numb to them. Shortly after 9/11, I personally hit rock bottom. The country was coming together and everyone was being more kind, more understanding. For me, I couldn’t see a way out of the fear and the darkness. I internalized these emotions and struggled for years to see light and hope. Then, one day I was at my parents’ house and I ran across a picture of my third-grade class with the sign we made for the hostages and I remembered what I once knew. Even when the world turned upside down, it can be righted and there can be smiles at the end.

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World Turned Upside Down

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