I couldn't tell you where I was last Tuesday, but I can tell you exactly where I was on September 11, 2001.
I was pulling into my office when a news report suddenly interrupted the song that I was listening to on the radio. The female reporter said that a plane had crashed into the North Tower in New York City. At that time, they were unsure if the crash was intentional or accidental.
I was listening to her live report as the second plane crashed into the South Tower. Even her professional training couldn't camouflage the horror and panic that consumed her thoughts.
Are we being attacked? It can't be possible.
Even though I didn't know any victims personally, it felt like a death in the family just the same. We closed our office and went to Mom and Dad's house where we watched the news for the rest of the day. My body felt like it was submerged in quicksand. We were devastated.
What followed the attack on 9/11 was a time where America's feelings of fear were only outnumbered by her feelings of patriotism.
Today we remember the 246 people who died in one of the four airplane crashes. We remember the 2,606 who lost their lives in New York City, either in the Twin Towers or at ground zero. We remember the 155 civilian and military personnel who perished at the Pentagon. And today, we pray for the friends and family of these 2,977 men and women who gave everything so that we may have everything.
Some volunteered to serve their country and some were chosen, but they are all called hero. Thank you for your sacrifice.
God Bless America.
"Now, we have inscribed a new memory alongside those others. It's a memory of tragedy and shock, of loss and mourning. But not only of loss and mourning. It's also a memory of bravery and self-sacrifice, and the love that lays down its life for a friend - even whose name it never knew." President George W. Bush, December, 11, 2011.
