I remember. Its one of those events that happen in your life that you will never forget where you were and what you were doing when it happened. It seems that every so often we have things like that. These events shape us.
Every generation has an event like this. Something momentous that shapes our view of the future. With events like WWI, WWII,Pearl Harbor, Kennedy getting shot or even Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. We listened to our grandparents and parents telling us where they were when these events happened. September 11th, 2001 will be one of those days that We will talk about with our children and grandchildren.
Pearl Harbor was the first time that we were attacked on our own soil. 60 years later, we were faced with the same horror. The same fear. But the difference between Pearl Harbor and 9/11 is back then we knew who bombed us. We didn't know who had attacked us on 9/11.
I remember thinking when the news broke and finding out that it wasn't just some poor schmuck with poor navigation in an airplane who crashed into the side of the World Trade building, who hates us that much. Now at the time, my husband and I weren't married and he was deployed, stationed in England. I was among my American Brothers and Sisters to feel the same wave of emotions and fear. I held my friend in her front yard as she sobbed into my shoulder, with tears running down my face.. We felt powerless. I remember the next few days as a blur. News reports, images, haunting images. Fire Fighters, Police and EMTs, exhausted from searching, tending to the wounded or just trying to maintain order through the chaos. I remember listening to my friend trying to explain to her young son what had happened in terms that he could understand. I can still hear his voice, "But why Momma..?" My husband came home from deployment and I never wanted to let him go.
September 11th, 2001 was the day this country came together. Race, Religion and the colour of skin, were all put aside. We came together as a united front. To prove to the world, 'Yeah you kicked us, but We aren't going to let you win' In a sense, to those who do not like us, that our spirit will not break. Yeah we all have our differences. But when faced with something like 9/11, the bond is strong.
In the years that followed, Wars were fought and are continually being fought.Things have changed.
We continue to show the world that we can come back from this. And that if something like this happens again, the American People will stand strong. We are a nation that will overcome whatever the world throws at us. If through the heartache and the fear, We can take 9/11 to remember just how strong this country actually is when faced with tragedy. The time we set aside our differences and worked together. That is what the world should see.
Every 9/11, I like to thank my local first responders. I don't care where I am in the world. It was them in NYC, at the Pentagon and in PA who saw first hand this horror. It was them who worked around the clock to search for survivors. Some lost their lives doing just that.Saving the lives caught in the middle. So thank a Fire Fighter, Police Officer or an EMT for their protection.
Most of all be proud of this Country. We have grown. Its days like this where we come together. We need more of that.
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