Today is not a day of celebration. Today is not a day of parades and
fireworks. Today is simply a day of remembrance. I know at least Facebook has called for a
moment of quiet reflection concerning today, but what is today…what is so important
about today?
It’s September 11th, 2015, fourteen years to the
date of one of the worse acts of war time violence to befall our nation in over
a hundred years. September 11th,
2001 hijackers affiliated with Middle Eastern terrorist forces came across U.S.
borders and high jacked four airliners, each full of passengers. Two struck the World Trade Center, the very
hub of capitalism not just for the United States, but for most of the civilized
world. The third struck the Pentagon,
the hub of national security for this nation.
The fourth saw the passengers overrun the highjackers and the plane
crashed in a Pennsylvania field, killing all on board. The total death toll was 2,997. The number, in the grand scheme of things,
doesn’t seem that large, however it was what it did psychologically to the
United States that was really damaging.
Some people are just not going to "get it". This was an act of war that took place in
major cities in the United States. At
the time it scared the hell out of the nation, and it should still scare
us. Its evidence that we are not
isolated in the world, that the problems that affect the world at large will
cross over the ocean and come straight for us if they want to. It was evidence that our borders are not
secure. It was the worst act of war seen
on U.S. soil since the American Civil War.
I was a records clerk working for the Corpus Christi Police
Department in Texas some 2000 miles away from the event itself. I was in the officer's briefing room picking
up police reports that needed to be filed when I noticed it was oddly
quiet. There was no cop humor, no jokes,
no giving fellow officers a hard time.
It was just quiet. I looked up at
the television situated in the room and saw the second plane hit the World Trade
Center. It was a live feed...I suddenly
realized I was watching people die...and there was nothing anyone in that room
could do.
We all identified with the brave officers and fire fighters
who charged into a crumbling skyscraper to rescue complete strangers, even at
the cost of their own lives.
But the difference is, I was old enough at the time to
understand what was happening. I was old
enough to realize that the United States' sense of security had just been
shattered.
As you go through your day, don't be too mad at people who
don't get it, or who willfully make jokes about it...they don't understand what
we lost that day. Maybe they're too
young, or maybe they just choose to buy into the pop culture that says
everything is fine and that nothing really matters. Kindly, and I mean that; kindly educate them
about what that day meant. Share your
story of where you were when you first found out that freedom has a steep
price.
I'm going to leave you with a quote from John Stewart who as
host of the Daily Show based out of New York had a very personal connection to
those events:
“The view from my apartment was the World Trade Center. And
now it's gone. And they attacked it, this symbol of American ingenuity and
strength and, and labor and imagination and commerce, and it is gone. But you
know what the view is now? The Statue of Liberty. The view from the south of
Manhattan is now the Statue of Liberty. You can't beat that."
If you don't get the metaphor, I'm sorry for you, because
you've grown up in a very jaded age indeed.
Thank you for reading…and have a good day.
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