Remember 9/11

In memory of the 2,977.

Ten Years Ago, we all woke up to a world radically different from what we were accustomed to. Children woke up, knowing that Daddy, or Mommy, would never walk through the front door again. Men and women looked at pictures of family, of friends, of colleagues, of brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers, and through blurred eyes saw only memories, never to be made again.

American soldiers stationed around the world wondered where the next attack would come. Noble men and women in uniform who were willing to risk, and even sacrifice, their lives to protect America, Her people, and Her way of life, stood horrified and angry. Somehow, the enemy had gotten past them, and brought the battle and the blood to the peaceful streets of home.

The American sense of invincibility and isolation from the world’s violence was gone. For the first time in almost two hundred years, an act of violence on the level of an act of war was carried out against the Continental United States. Our planes, our safest and fastest form of transportation had been used as weapons of mass destruction against our people, our economy, and out military.

Our people were slaughtered, regardless of race, creed, or color. Muslims (in the towers, not the terrorists) Christians, Jews, and those who believe in no god at all, were burnt shattered and crushed.

So on the morning of September 12^th, 2001, The day after the most horrific act of terror committed in modern history, America woke up. We had a lot of uncertainties, but there was one thing certain, United, in the collective minds of Americans. We’d been hurt, but we would NEVER, NEVER, be defeated. On September 12^th, we were not Republicans and Democrats, we were not African-Americans, or Asian-Americans, or even European-Americans, we were just Americans. Regardless of race, gender, religion, political affiliation, or any other dividing factor, we were Brothers and Sisters, we were Americans.

As we look back over these past ten years, a lot has changed. There isn’t an overwhelming feeling of unity in the United States. We’ve become divided and divisive again. But we have the right to be so. Our Nation, our Constitution, our Freedoms guarantee us those rights.  Even so, United We Stand, Divided We Fall.

"We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately” –Benjamin Franklin

Remember the unity we felt as a nation on September 12th, 2001, and feel that unity again. Reach out to your neighbor; greet a stranger with a smile; visit an old friend; tear down a wall; build again a burnt bridge. We are all Americans, and we all bear the same wound.

Through blurred eyes we find the strength and courage to soar beyond the moment.
We look to the future knowing we can never forget the past.
God Bless America

Greenwood Cemetery
York, Nebraska 

No words, from tongue or pen, can describe the sorrow, the pain, or the loss. They cannot give adequate tribute to the innocent dead in the Towers and the Pentagon, or give sufficient eulogy to the noble men and women of Flight United 93.

The best we can do is Remember.

Remember the Fallen:

In the North Tower and on American Airlines Flight 11; 8:46 a.m. & 10:28 a.m.

In the South Tower and on United Airlines Flight 175; 9:03 a.m. & 9:59 a.m.

In the Pentagon and on American Airlines Flight 77; 9:37 a.m.

On United Airlines Flight 93; 10:03 a.m.

Remember the Soldiers who have died in defense of our Freedoms, whether or not you believe their war was just.

Remember the Heroes:

The Firefighters and the Police Officers.

Men like Pablo Ortiz and Frank DeMartini, men who went up to make sure others could go down.

Men like Orio Palmer and Ronald Bucca, firefighters who raced the 78^th floor of the South Tower without any regard for personal safety.

Remember the sons and daughters, almost too young to remember, who now grow up without a mother or a father.

Remember the Fallen. Remember the Survivors.

Remember 9/11- Never Forget.

 

God Bless America.