Remembering 9/11/2001

It’s 9/11 once again and oddly now everyone in America knows what that means.  Eight years ago America suffered the worst attack on our homeland soil, since Pearl Harbor. We remember but did we take it to heart the full impact of that beautiful morning blown apart by terrorists bent on killing us ‘Infidels’.

September eleventh, will always be a where were you when moment in history.  But it should also always have a deeper emotional meaning for all of us that are old enough to remember that day.

Suddenly, one clear morning it seemed to arrive . . . by air, complete with images of the destruction of the mightiest monuments to our power, and (just as previously experienced) as an onscreen spectacle.  At one point that day, it could be viewed on more than thirty channels, including some never previously involved with breaking news, and most of the country was watching.

At first reports the news had us thinking it was just a freak, but horrible accident, with the fire and smoke coming out of the World Trade Center Tower, we kept on with whatever we were doing.  Shortly afterwards the news saying a second plane had hit the other tower.  That’s when everyone started wondering what in the world was going on.  Are we going to war?  The Pentagon was hit by another plane and more seemed to have been hijacked.  I knew that this wasn’t just a coincidence or an accident.  I was glued to the television the rest of the day.

A beautiful thing came out of 9/11 though; America came together, even if it was just for a little while.  We put out our flags, helped our neighbors, smiled easier, watched the kids around us a little closer, many attended church more, prayed a little harder, teary eyed hearing The National Anthem, ate our Freedom vanilla ice cream, and asked for Freedom Fries at restaurants.  We did everything we could to show that although 9/11 had knocked us down, knocked the wind out of us as a Nation, with God’s help we could persevere, we were Americans.

All that mattered was that we were there together and we were still America, the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

What the Hell happened to us?

As I have written before, the unity that seemed apparent for a short while after 9/11 was illusory.  Now the divisions between the political camps in America are greater, and the anger more intense.  In some ways this is just a progression of forces that were building even before 9/11.

The perpetrators remain somewhat nameless, faceless, formless, country-less, and above all lacking religion as we understand it.  We look back to offer respect and remembrance, and to learn from the past.

What did we learn from 9/11?  We learned that Islamist fundamentalist terrorists meant . . . and still mean . . . business, that we must continue the fight against them on all fronts.  

We learned that ordinary Americans are capable of extraordinary courage . . . but of course, we already knew that.

The American people do remember the events . . . but the impact and lessons of 9/11 have been lost.

That’s the real tragedy on top of this horrific event.

Ice


* Pictures gleaned from Google Images - Authors Unknown but thankful for their unique perspective on this tragedy.