Here comes that date again.September 11th, 2001. A date that instantly became an 'I remember where I was when...' day.
I remember where I was when the events of 9/11 began. I was at work, like many other Americans on the east coast. My company was located within 1 mile of a major international airport (Washington/Dulles) for the Washington DC metro area, and we got used to seeing and hearing planes taking off and landing seemingly every minute. As the events unfolded, once we all realized what was happening, many of us left work to go home and be with our loved ones. I was single at the time, with no family in the area. I went home to be with me.
Driving home, listening on the radio, one eye on the road and one on the sky (try that!), I tried to gain perspective on what was happening. Suddenly the skies were empty and quiet, except for the occassional military fighter plane. Before going home I (and many others) stopped at the store and bought a bunch of water, ice, batteries - not really sure why, but who knew what was happening and/or about to happen? I got home and turned on the TV and watched.
And watched. And watched.
Later that afternoon I started to sort of freak out from horror overload. I called my friend Ted and asked him to go fishing with me. I had to get my eyes off of the TV, I had to get my mind to stop being so hyperfocused, I had to try and get some of those images out of my head. Also single and w/o family in the area, Ted was happy to go with me to our favorite fishing hole. The lasting memory of that evening was not the conversation, or the fish we caught; both of us were struck by the eerie silence, the empty skies overhead. Instead of a plane every minute, the sky was still and quiet. In the woods, miles from the city and the TV - and reality - we still could not escape the damage done.
And then a plane flew over. The silence being broken was the loudest plane I'd ever heard, the sound of freedom. The nation's airports had resumed flying, the country must be back to normal! Obviously it took longer than that - in fact we still aren't 'back to normal', nor will we ever be. That America, the country that existed before 9/11, is just a memory now.
In the days immediately following 9/11 the world felt our pain, holding candlelight vigils, tearfully saying 'Today We Are All Americans' - even in France! Here in America, we were united with a bipartisan resolve that none of us had ever experienced. We would rebuild, and we would do it together. Just a few months later, I fell in love and eventually got married.
That sure seems like a loooooong time ago.
Today, 6 years later, 9/11 is here again. I got divorced, once again I'm single. The world hates America more than ever. Republicans and Democrats hate each other again. Everyone hates the President. Wait a minute - we're back to normal! Except we can't bring a bottle of water through security...
Did it all really happen? No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist - I don't think the gov't brought down the towers with explosives, and I don't think the Pentagon was hit by a missile. Yes it happened.
I just wonder what we've done with all the resolve, the unity.
I'll watch the tape tonight, and remember how it felt. How I felt. 
4 comments:
Kevin... you said it so well.
If only we could have taken away the resolve to be one America, and proud and protective of who we are. How quickly we forget.
God bless our soldiers fighting to keep us free and safe.
Very well said! Thank you for making me remember how I felt. I cried again :(
"Kevin...awesome. It is just as painful today as it was 6 years ago. We may have become a little complacent again...but it still lurks there...the need to stay vigilant and on guard..always. I miss the old days...when we thought we couldn't be touched. But, as painful as it was, and with all the terror that reigned down on us that day, it served to teach us that we indeed are vulnerable...thank you for giving us your perspective.
Never forget...."
Nice job on the commentary Kevin! That's pretty much the way I remember it too, although I also recall seeing a vapor trail high in the sky, which we later found out was a fighter jet patroling to protect Washington, D.C. from additional attacks.
I was at my office when it happened, and an employee told everyone his brother in Boston called him and said a plane had hit one of the towers.
So I logged onto a live stream of c-span and was watching coverage and WHAM!, the second plane hit. Women in the office watching started tearing up and some crying, others in complete shock. I said, "That's
it- we're at war".
Then we got a call from the feds telling us to evacuate our building because there were more planes and they thought the NRO campus less than
1 mile from us was a target. I stood behind our building watching as planes that normally are two minutes aparts on approach were coming in hard and fast not more than 30 seconds apart. Myself and one other employee were the last two to leave our building.
The drive home was a solid line of traffic with one notable difference- people were courteous with each other. Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was the country coming together in a time of war. Who knows for sure?
The bottom line is that as Kevin correctly put it, there was a brief moment when our nation was ONE. That lasted all of about 3 days until the so-called patriots (Democrats) reverted to their old ways which they cannot avoid.
Democrats and liberals are the most worthless human debris, a very short second place to the Islamic fascist terrorists who want us all dead.
Many of the problems we face in this war today are directly correlated to the actions of the Far Left Socialists in Congress that are counter to the goal: VICTORY.
What the Hell do they not understand about ideological zealots? They are so coulded by their desire for power that they will give up virtually everything America once stood for in order to gain and/or retain power over the citizens they claim to respect.
So why then do I take the opportunity of 9-11 to cut down liberals and democrats? Simple answer: Becuase they should be defeated EVERY TIME they try to bring down the United States. Just look at Dennis Kucinich and Nancy Pelosi, taking an audience with Bashar Asad for the sole purpose of blaming America for Islamic radical terrorism.
My only hope is that one day the citizens of our once great nation will rise up, collect these traitors and hang them in the public square.
Death to Islam and God Bless America
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