"We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. Describe a time when there was "silence."

I've described my day on Sept. 11, 2001 in a previous post, but this prompt brought it to the forefront of my mind once again.

Rich and I had gone to Applebees for a late-night dinner when he arrived home after we expected due to a lockdown at the Base. It was his 50th birthday. Applebees here in Macon is normally a bustling, noisy restaurant made even louder by the fact that the bar is in the middle of the establishment. The chatter of the dining customers together with the louder voices of the slightly inebriated drinking customers usually drowns out the noise from several TVs that are mounted on the walls around the room.

On the night of 9-11, the only sounds in the restaurant were the somber voices of the newscasters on TV and the dire speech of then-President George Bush. A phrase he used that night stood out to me and has been forever etched in my mind ever since: “evil, despicable acts of terror.” A shocked disbelief coupled with an underlying layer of fear permeated the room. The woman sitting across the aisle from us had tears streaming down her cheeks. Tables of people were eating their meals in utter silence, listening intently to the stunning, horrifying events of that day.

I’ve never before nor since witnessed a room full of people so absolutely, eerily silent.