Our Day Of Remembrance...
No roundup, no "follies"...just a sober look at the events that unfolded eight years ago this morning, and how they affected all of us THEN...and NOW.
Today is a day to REMEMBER...it's NOT a "national day of service", because if there are those who WISH to serve in some capacity today...they WILL, and without ANY "nudging" by any part of our government.
I remember it like it WAS yesterday...
It was one of those moments...you're just wandering past the TV (on for the AM news, weather, and traffic reports), and you stop... FREEZE in your tracks...in utter disbelief.
An airliner had plowed full speed into one of the twin towers of the WTC.
I stood there, trying to take it all in...watching the video and the live shots from what would become known as "Ground Zero".
I was wondering how many people were there, how they would escape, and what the first-responders were facing....it all runs through your mind at breakneck speed.
I found myself unable to tear myself from the TV...and then the SECOND plane struck!
Within an hour, the towers fell in upon themselves to the ground.
And I was rendered speechless.
I've been to NYC enough times (having lived in Philly), both before and after the WTC was built, and from the Staten Island ferry, they were always the second nicest scene from the deck.
The first being our Statue of Liberty.
Anyone who's taken that ferry knows the pride of being an American, and how it wells up in your throat.
Your heart beats a little harder...and faster.
You stand a bit taller, and breathe in the harbor air, knowing you live in the greatest nation on the planet.
Then something like 9-11 comes along, and then you feel something you haven't felt in a VERY long time; VULNERABLE.
After witnessing something like that, you go through the normal gamut of emotions...
You have disbelief, and denial...then comes sadness...then anger and acceptance. That's pretty much what grief is all about.
So, here I was, stuck in Indiana, about 1100+ miles from what had happened, and I could do nothing, except find something to fill my time, as I ran the scenario over and over again.
I went out and mowed the lawn...I had to do something.
Pissing a fit and pounding a wall would accomplish nothing for me OR for those killed in this tragedy.
It was then I heard about the crash into the Pentagon and flight 93 that went down in Schencksville, PA.
And I knew this was NO "accident". This was planned.
When I was out mowing, one of our white-trash "locals" stopped and said: "Didja hear about New York?" I didn't want to talk to ANYONE right then (least of all him), so I answered an abrupt "Yeah, I did, but I can't do anything out HERE, and the lawn needs mowing. I just pity the f$cking bastards that did this..." Suffice it to say, that was probably more than this guy could field, intellectually-speaking, so he wandered the hell off again, in search of something less than legal elsewhere...good for both of us.
I had neither the time nor the inclination to "chit-chat" at the moment.
I was one pissed-off American citizen.
Well, the lawn got mowed, and in the days that followed, I watched the TV for any and all news about the tragedies.
I knew the search for survivors would be long, messy, and angst-ridden.
I also knew that our President, George W. Bush, speaking from Ground Zero, made our nation's intentions known.
"We will bring you to justice...or we will bring justice to you." is what I remember, and I still have a bumper sticker of that in my front door.
NOW...right then and there, I felt a lot LESS vulnerable.
Our nation was rallied together under extraordinary circumstances back THEN.
We were UNITED..ONE people.
Many of us STILL embrace the memory...and the reason behind our feelings. (Many others seemingly could care less, as was, and is still evidenced in my neighborhood...business as usual to THEM...helluva way to live one's pitiful life.)
We, who do remember, are still vigilant...on guard against those who would remove our freedoms and liberties by whatever means they have at their disposal, namely terrorism.
Many of us will NOT be swayed by that...not after that morning eight years ago.
Sadly, too many have "fallen away" from remembering 9-11. America's ADHD reared it's ugly head for more "important" things, such as American Idol, sports, and sadly, politics.
We, as a nation NEED to recall those that fell. We need to remember the families who lost loved ones in the WTC collapse, and at the Pentagon, and in PA. We need to remember the first-responders that gave their lives for others without thought to their own safety. We need to remember how something like this can be a galvanizing venue to heal the societal wounds in this nation.
We need to be (once again) more like the (united) people we were on 9-12-01.
So, since I cannot properly display my flag at "half-staff", due to the type of pole I have for it, I will wish that those who CAN do so, make it so. And stand there for a moment...and remember, as you watch the flag flying.
I will remember...I owe it to those that fell eight years ago. I owe it to my country, and I owe it to myself.
It's difficult to understand HOW something this devastating can unite a nation, but it does.
Our challenge is to REMAIN united, put aside our petty issues, and FOCUS on being vigilant, in order to assure that our lives are better and safer not only for ourselves, but for our future generations.
And it is our duty to make sure THOSE generations understand and remember what we have been witness to, so that we (or they) may never have to see it happen again.
Allow me to invoke the words of Todd Beamer, passenger on Flight 93... "Let's Roll!"
Stay safe out there, America