Remember Where You Were & What
You Were Doing 15 Yrs Ago Today?
I know we'll be getting a lot of questions like this throughout the day on various media platforms and especially right here on AR. and with good cause. There are certain things that happen in our life that stop us dead in our tracks and possibly even change or influence the way we look at life from that moment forward.
I had just turned on the local morning weather as I do every morning to check the surf condition. At the exact moment the screen illuminated I saw what I thought had to be an action movie........................or so I thought.
Much to my surprise and dismay and very sadly I realized within a few moments it was no movie and that America was under attack and from that day forward the World I grew up in, loved and respected would be changing forever.
I couldn't believe my eyes. My wife was in the bathtub at the time the 2nd tower was hit and when I told her what I was seeing she told me to wake up from the bad dream I was obviously having.
When I told her it was not a dream and that I was witnessing two burning towers that were hit by airliners she quickly got out of the tub threw a towel around her and still dripping ran into the room to join me.
We both looked on in horror as a deep sadness overcame us while we stood there together embracing and shedding tears of sorrow mixed with overwhelming emotion and rage.
Shortly thereafter the Pentagon was hit and we heard that the passengers of flight 93 had overtaken the terrorists in the cockpit and sacrificed their lives by forcing the aircraft down in a field far short of it's intended target...........the White House or Capital Building.
Over the Thanksgiving Holiday of '01 my youngest daughter was playing basketball for USD and had a tournament in NYC. Janis and I traveled to New York with she and her team as we always did.
I'll never ever forget that weekend. We stayed at the downtown Flat Hotel so we could be close to the Macy's Day Parade which BTW was one of the proudest days of my life as I stood there saluting Mayor Juliani and Governor Pataki along with dozens of brave police officers and firefighters who paraded and marched saluting by in the open and unprotected waving and welcoming everyone to their proud city.
After the parade my daughter's coach gathered the team and their guests on the subway where we all took a trip to ground zero. Two months later it was still one of the most jarring and emotional experiences I can ever remember.
As we slowly circled the fence that protected the still smoldering and smell filled site and gazed at all that had happened there just a little over two months earlier a chill went down my spine and a feeling of deep sadness and emotion once again got the best of us all as we stood there in silence arm and arm hand in hand with our heads bowed as tears ran down our cheeks.
As we were making our way back to the subway we passed a burned up bicycle still locked to the bike rack. We were staring at the remnants with amazement when a local stopped and shared his thoughts with us. He said that the bike had belonged to one of the victims and was still waiting for its owner to come back, unlock it and ride off to finish the day. That was about all we could take for one day.
As we returned back on the subway the air was filled with silence and sadness as the team, coaching staff and visitors all sat quite somberly in total silence reflecting on the experience we had all just shared while realizing that we were able to walk away from it all and go on about our lives which was not the case with 3000+ other Americans and visitors who were actually there on September 11th 2001.
One lasting memory I continue to reflect on many times throughout the years since, but especially on this particular day, was the sense of pride, strength and determination mixed with sorrow, anger and resolve from the many local folks who actually did experience that day first hand.
There's definitely something about America and the Americans who live in and share this beautiful Country with one another that is truly unique.
We're a free, hard working and fun loving society for the most part. We believe in living and letting other folks live their lives the way they wish as long as they're not offending or hurting others.
But do hear this to all who wish to bring harm to us hence forth. If you try to back us into a corner we will come out swinging, kicking, scratching and biting our way back every inch of the way with every ounce of strength that we have.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
and all those brave SOULS who continue
to pay the ultimate price to be an
AMERICAN.
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