Tomorrow is 9/11, and it has been thirteen years since the cowardly attack on America. I have to admit that because of the primary on Tuesday I have been a bit caught up in my own little world, and I had lost track of the fact that we were again coming up on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Has it really been thirteen years? As with so many things in our lives, even the most tragic events, as times passes, the pain and memories tend to fade.
Of course for the immediate family, and friends of those who died that clear September morning, I am sure it is just as real, and just as painful. For them it may never fade. I have to say when it dawned on me what tomorrow is, I felt a bit of shame, shame that I had so gotten caught up in my own trivial agenda, that I had forgotten the thousands of my fellow Americans who were ripped from their families, the hundreds of firemen and police officers who bravely ran into the danger zone as other ran for their lives.
Our world has forever been changed, and not for the better, we are less trustful of those who do not look like us, or who do not hold to our chosen faith. We are a people more divided. What happened to that America in the first days following the attack? Do you remember how there were flags everywhere, how strangers would stop and talk about the attacks, how that tragedy actually, for a short time, allowed us to put aside our squabbles and petty disagreements.
In the days following 9/11 we as Americans stared the terrorist in the eye and said, “bring it on”. For one fleeting moment we remembered that we were all Americans, not Republicans, not liberals, not white, or black, not Christian or Jewish, but just Americans.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could find that feeling again without the tragedy? Wouldn’t it be nice if instead of calling names when we disagree, we simply understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion, and that if we refuse to listen to others, then we refuse to learn and grow as people.
Tonight President Obama gave a speech on his strategy to counteract the growing threat of ISIS in the middle east, and while I would hope that he did not purposefully choose the eve of 9/11 to give this address, it does highlight the fact that we are still at risk, that we could once again face being attack on some grand scale.
Wouldn’t we be better prepared to deal with such an attack, or even to discourage such an attack, if we were more untied, you know like our name implies? United States of America.
If like me, the significance of tomorrow had slipped your mind, I hope you will take a moment tomorrow to stop for just a moment and remember those who lost their lives, those who gave their lives, and those who were left behind with huge gaping holes in their lives.
May God bless us and watch over us, and may God bless America.
Like you too, I’d forgotten the anniversary was upon us. However, it should be mentioned that our biggest loss after 9/11 was not our innocence. but the realization that technology works both ways, making us safer and giving our enemies more options to do little damage.
We have must to be thankful about that day. And that I think needs to be the legacy of our time since, not the fact that someone suckered-punched us while we were sleeping. Anyone can sucker punch someone who is sleeping. And it is impossible to stay awake all the time to prevent it!
We learned that American do put people before themselves. And though there are other limited historical accounts of such, to my knowledge there is no record of a nation that can be so devoted to helping others in need… That needs to be our legacy. Not that we got suckered punched while we were asleep. But that we got on our feet, and fought hard…
So I roll my eyes at the images like posted above of the towers exploding…. But still well up tears over the human images of first responders, victims, and New Yorkers in general, who on the next day,went on with their daily lives, determined not to let the stigma stand….
“Wouldn’t it be nice if we could find that feeling again…” – Frank Knotts
That “bring it on” feeling sent 6,830 US (more than twice the 9/11 death toll) and countless Iraqis and Afghans to early graves.
I thought “bring it on” was repulsive then, still do.
Delacrat, don’t be an ass, you know what I meant, I said to find the feeling without the tragedy, you conveniently left that out of the quote, and without the attack there would have been no wars. Today is not a good day to try and play me, I have had my fill of children.