9/11 THEN AND NOW

Remembering 9/11/2001 and writing about are always equally heart wrenching.  The emotions that are so deeply connected to that series of events affect my life on an almost daily basis.  Fifteen years later the same emotions that flooded over me that morning still grab at me.  What makes it difficult to write about is making a cohesive comment about what resulted in my existing anger, sorrow, pride, and inability to fully understand why.  Intellectually it’s not that difficult as to the why or how but the how can people do such things will forever escape me. 

I remember getting up that morning for an early sales meeting, getting into the shower, hearing my wife shouting at me to come

and see the televisions view of a plane flying into the 1^st Tower.  Still drying myself off I watched as the second plane, making a slow turn then slamming into the second tower.  Oh my God it was not an accident.  Over the next few hours the horror continued to unfold, the anguish and compassion boiled up inside for all those poor people and their families.  As the buildings failed, the engineering was unable to predict such a cataclysmic event.  So many emotions emerged to fester within me some 15 years later.  The anger is still there, the burning need for revenge has dissipated and morphed into a strong desire to stop any form of hatred and actions formed by indoctrinated ideology.

Today 9/11/2016 I am still trying to gain an understanding of those events, I am still emotionally affected, but I now know who and I know the why.  I watched our people, all races, colors and creeds. The people that make up the cornucopia we call the United States of America.  I watched and felt in my heart as they joined together and in purpose to undertake the task at hand.  It was surely reminiscent of the unity of purpose and prayer that brought us to victory during WWII.  I watched as our people united behind a President we all knew, at that point in time, had our backs and would see our much needed justice.

Today I find myself still rising early and turning on the television to peruse the latest news and political bickering.  This morning the first thing to hit my eyes and ears was the vision of our President.  I very seldom see Barrack H Obama as the President of all of, as a result of so many of my own particular views and his.  Today as he spoke he struck me a solidly the president of all of us.  He spoke of many places in both of our hearts, and once again I felt a spark of unity between citizen and President.  It felt good.

Later on in the broadcast, much of what took place that morning in 2001, the subject of United Flight #93 and the memorial were shown and spoken about.  It reminded me of what makes me so proud of our nation, our flag, and it’s people.

United Airlines flight #93 held 7 crew members, 33 passengers and 4 hijackers.  Watching that show this morning I learned that the memorial had not only the names of those victims on display, but there were tapes of passenger communications.  The plane had been late on its takeoff and because of that many of the passengers were aware of the planes being flown into the towers.  They knew that the terrorists who had taken control of their plane had no intent of landing the plane in one piece.  With the terrorists in charge or the plane they still managed a vote, a vote that saved many lives that day.  What I find so American about their act was not the heroism involved but rather the depth of compassion they had to feel for the people they would save.  Rather than sit still, as frozen in fear victims, they realized they would not survive the day.  They chose to take away the advantage the terrorists held. they chose to use their lives to save the lives of people they didn’t even know. 

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13

When they chose to use their lives to save the lives of people they didn’t even know, was that act even greater?  I think so.  The mentality of sacrifice runs deep within our national dna. Even as we have those who disparage our county, our flag and our anthem there are those who put their bodies, their very lives, at risk for others.

 

Those men and women deserve our respect.  They deserve to be honored in voices of thanksgiving.  The men and women who serve the rest of us do not deserve to be targets, as pawns in ideologically composed internal disagreement and resentment.  

We are fortunate to live in what history will see as the greatest social experiment and achievement since the birth of our species.  We need to start acting out of our best.

God Bless America.  Pray for your neighbor and your enemy.