Heros: Take Seven. Never Forget

Today’s Hero should be a no-brainer given yesterday’s date.

Today I would like to honor all the men, women & children who lost their lives on 9/11 nine years ago. The innocent victims of the terrible crashes into both Twin Towers and the Pentagon. And especially those heroic enough to have taken action on those flights to try to stop the terrorists. 

I appreciate not only the loss experienced by their families, but also the reaction our country had to what happened.

We did not go into hiding. We did not cower or even bite our fingernails (okay, maybe we did for a day or two).

Instead, as a country, we banded together. We waved our flags proudly. Every car was decked out in red, white & blue, every house and overpass had a yellow ribbon displayed. People who previously had not gotten along were suddenly putting aside our differences.

The goal of tearing our country apart turned into bringing us closer together.

As for me? I was in my senior year of college. I was in a computer lab waiting for class to start and I received an AOL IM from a friend saying someone had crashed a plane into one of the twin towers. I thought it was a terrible accident. A few minutes later the same friend came back and said another plane went into the other tower. I, naively, seemed to rationalize that because of all the smoke from the first crash the 2^nd plane couldn’t see and also accidentally crashed into a tower. There was no thought of maliciousness in my mind.

I went to class. After class I heard that another plane crashed into the Pentagon and yet another in Pennsylvania. I was shocked. I went home and popped a tape into my VCR and hit record. I still haven’t watched that tape, but I think I still have it. I also went out at 6am the next morning and picked up 2 of every newspaper I could get my hands on. I vacuumed sealed them and haven’t opened them yet.

I freaked out for a day or two then I banded together with my fellow classmates and we worked through it.

But I will never forget. I hope you never forget either. God Bless you and God Bless America.