Seven years ago I was working swing shift on September 10th. I got home from work around midnight, and went straight to bed. I do not remember the reason why, but I woke up around 6 in the morning and turned on the news. I was sad, angry, and confused all at once.
Who could have done this?
Will we make them pay?
Will this great country of ours ever be the same?
These are just a few of the questions floating through my head. I remember that day in great detail. I remember washing my car that afternoon, because after spending the day watching TV and seeing the second plane crash into the other tower, seeing the Pentagon struck, and Flight 93 that crashed down in Pennsylvania I had to do something to keep me busy. I remember while washing the car I heard the Congress of the United States sing "God Bless America" together. One nation, one voice. It brought tears to my eyes, but at the same time a little bit of peace to me in an otherwise insanely crazy day.
While we may not agree with one another on the course that our nation has taken these past 7 years in the war on terror, we should always remember that on that day, our great nation, the greatest nation ever known to mankind, stood as one.
Some people don't want the images of the horrific day shown, but they must be. This event in American history must not be forgotten. Every year on the anniversary of that tragic day, I watch video clips of the terror and confusion. I don't do it because I take joy in human suffering. I do it because I need to remember how I felt that day. We all need to understand what is up against us in this world, and never, ever forget what they did to us.
This first video is a timeline of the events that transpired that day. There are some graphic scenes in this video.
This video is the speech that George W. Bush gave the night of September 11, 2001. I could care less if you like this man or not. But in my mind this is a very touching speech from our Commander in Chief.
Viewing these kind of makes the big ado over the "lipstick on a pig" comment made by Obama very silly. All I have left to say is God Bless America. We have been knocked down before, but we always get up, and rise stronger than we were before. Always remember. Never forget.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Always Remember, Never Forget
Posted by The Donald at 10:25 AM
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8 comments:
Very well written Donald. We won't even forget, will we. But it's interesting to think back to our conversation last night...how to our children, this will just be stuff from the history books. They will never truly understand the devasation that was felt that day.
I love you. Forever.
Well said. It's still a very sobering day for me. Thanks for the well written essay.
We will never forget in our house either. Today Jeff and I had a family briefing on post and we watched a slide show of pictures and had time of quiet reflection.
The Commanding General here at FT Stewart was in the Pentagon that day... and all of us here had lost family or friends in the war defending our freedom.
I am happy that there are Americans like you!
I wish there was a tv station that played that over and over again. Where is the backbone and our capacity to remember more that 3 weeks. I won't forget what I saw that day on tv. And I am so sorry that Lisa had a friend on that plane. That is so unfair.
I agree with your wife, very well written. And thanks for the comments on my post about that day and how it changed my career as a flight attendant. I also agree that it is strange to think that our children and future generations will learn about it as history and we actually lived it... sometimes it doesn't feel like it's been seven years at all because I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Thanks again for sharing your thoughts on such a horrible day in our country's such recent history.
Good Work. I love how you write. I will always remember this day too. Like the back of my hand. May parents were actually VERY lucky that day. They were on a plane in Hartford, CT getting ready to fly home. They used to go to a convention in Boston every year usually fly out of Boston, to LA, then home, but for some reason that year, my dad decided to leave from CT. They would have been on that plane.
My mom told me that when they got the news that their plane would not be leaving, a Muslim man sitting RIGHT beside her, who had got on the plane with no bags or anything, jumped up and said "Shit" and was the first one off. I believe thier lives were spared that day. And I am so glad. Since then, I have had three brothers sign up for the military, specifically to help protect our country from terrorists.
I have seen these images over and over, but today, I am choosing not to watch the videos on your blog, as I can't take it. They are forever etched into my memory, and are one of the reasons for my severe anxiety issues.
I love this country. It is the greatest country on earth.
I somehow missed this on the actual day, but I wanted to tell you that I agree and appreciate your post. I saw different footage of the crashes the other day and I was stunned all over again. Thanks for reminding us of what we've been thru together.
Thanks for stopping by Donald, you can hit the green links and make some Obama posters yourself. You're right, every little bit helps to defeat the Obamassiah.
Very nice tribute, well said. Now, for my flashback: I was getting ready to get ready for work; Howard was on the radio, the TV's sound was muted.
I finally looked up and saw the tower with smoke pouring out of it and said "what the...", and then turned the sound on and just then my sister called and we watched and talked about it for a few minutes until the 2nd plane hit.
We were both "Oh my God..."
For the next week or more my nabes was like a demilitarized zone or something, only official traffic allowed. Lots of firetrucks and buses filled with fireman and rescue workers streamed through the neighborhood on their way down to Ground Zero.
Thankfully I lost no one, but know many people who did, including a friend at work who had joined us from Cantor Fitzgerald after being there for 10 years. He lost over 100 friends and acquaintances, including 3 of his best friends who I had met at a birthday party at a club about 6 months before.
They loved the nickname I had given him.
A friend of mine called his wife at home and said "Go and get a few hundred dollars out of an ATM, quick!" She finally had to go way uptown to find one that still had cash in it. But on the way back to their apartment she ran into many upper-class Mommies out on the streets (with their husbands still on their way home from work, hopefully) with their little kids and no way to get cash, and all of them crying and scared, and so little by little she gave away all her money to these scared and crying young Mothers.
So many stories, maybe I'll recount more next year.
We must not let people forget, and we must never refuse to recognize evil.
:(
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we will NOT forget
you 9/11 victims
will get justice
.
painful truth -
9/11 should be our
wakeup call
.
get Bin Laden -
we just need big SWAT team
and search warrant
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
there is no good or evil
every thing's relative
don't judge a terrorist
.
All real freedom starts with freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech there can be no real freedom.
.
Philosophy of Liberty Cartoon
.
Help Halt Terrorism Today!
.
We will NEVER forget!
:)
.
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