Let us NEVER forget......

I was home on vacation, finishing up a wallpapering job. I got a coffee, and decided to watch the tv. I said to myself, 'Now what is all this about? Someone hit a building?" Just then on the screen, I saw a aircraft fly past the tower that had been hit, and smoke and flames emerge from the other side. I just happened to have the VCR running at the time, and left it on until the tape finished. I have never had the inclination to watch it, but I still have the tape.
I wish we could forget. That horror killed our souls and made us suspicious and fearful. America as we knew it does not exist anymore.

 

So sorry, but the facts are that you must keep an eye open and suspect at all times. Why, this time is so different, things move so fast, potential for good and bad lives in the imaginations of many and the access act on either of these is almost limitless. I think of Israel. They live with optimism and hyper vigilance.
Our constitution as written provides us with the wisdom to maintain our great nation. If we plan to keep our freedom and civil rights, we must be willing to constantly work protecting it and calling out those who would undo it for their special interest.

 

Well said Larry. As the line goes... freedom isn't free.

 

I can vividly remember it too. I was at work a few years into career as as a young technical guy staring at my screen, got a call from my Mom that there had been a terrible accident in New York and I should try and look at the news. Very soon people where shouting in the halls and within an hour that had TVs rolled into the carfeteria and the managers told us all we could go home.

I remember all of us standing in that cafe in shock watching the TV for hours. I remember people in tears.

I remember the few folks who stayed in their offices working, and working wondering how they could possibly not be affected/moved by what was happening??

I remember the eerie quiet when we would sit outside on lunchhour over the next few days as the weather was perfectly clear and there was not a plane to be seen or heard in the sky anywhere.

Being so close to Boston we where all especially angry and saddened that the flights had originated here.

Being in my mid 20s the roommates and I had been planning a kegger for the weekend after and we thought of cancelling it but didn't. It was subdued and I remember we hung a giant flag out front and there was a lot of drunken stuff said that's best forgotten. Looking back I think its good us bunch of drunken angry 20somethings where not running the country then as we probably would have reached for 'the button' out of pure rage.




Life has certainly changed a lot since then.

 

Here in Canada, it too was quiet with no bush planes or larger airplanes flying for a couple of days at a time when usually there was always something in the air. At work - high school - everyone was very subdued as the TVs were on in back of classrooms as everyone waited for updates. We may have been on the other side of the continent and in another country but it still affected us.

 

The sky was quiet but I remember some fighter jets patrolling the sky, at least the evening of 9/11. Their sound, being quite different than commercial traffic, is what I recall.

 

I was working in a federal building in downtown Grand Rapids and the building got evacuated. Nobody told us why (even though I'm sure the people with the badges knew), just that we had to leave. It wasn't until I got in my car and turned on the radio that I heard the news. If I remember right, it was around 9:10 AM when I got in my car and heard about what was happening.

God bless those who passed that day, those who passed after due to the affects, and the men and women who keep our country free.

 

Thanks Dennis, well said...

 

Don't ask me why - but I switched over to MSNBC this morning after watching some of the memorials on my local news.
They were re-broadcasting the NBC Today show coverage from 2001. I switched over after the towers had already fallen, but the broadcasters had already labeled it terrorism, Act of War, etc.
Amazing what 13yrs will do to some of these beliefs.
Sad that the country could go from the unified state it was in back to the divisiveness that exists today

and on an uplifting note Matt Lauer had a full head of hair

 

I too fly my flag every day and I think I'm the only one in my small town. With what's going on I don't get it. Do we remember all the flags and the patriotism after 9/11?

 

We need it more than ever.

I was working a residential job site and loading the work truck after finishing some repairs. An elderly woman in the home called me in to tell me the news. It was an absolute shock as the events unfolded. The woman was very upset and visibly shaking. I called the wife to watch the news and I stayed for a while as the poor woman was all alone. I kept the newspaper from the following day to someday talk to my kids about it. They did have a moment of silence today and briefly talked about it in class. Patriotism was at such an all time high after the event. I still find it difficult to watch some of the footage, and can't even imagine what the responders went through. They are heroes.

I fear now, more than ever we are at risk. The Boston Marathon bombings made it really evident. These things are not supposed to happen. Without getting political, I just want to say that patriotism is eroding in this country. We need to pull up our boot straps and stand up for what this country was built on. We need to return it to the great nation it once was. It still is a great nation, it just needs some work. Rest assured the kids do say the Pledge of Allegiance every day in class.

We fly the flag proudly here too. I think that the flag is such a strong icon for those who live by it, and those who have died by it. Let us not forget.

 

I agree--if we do not remain vigilant, there will be more Boston Marathon incidents again.
We are celebrating the Star Spangled Banner Birthday down in Baltimore, fireworks, Blue Angels, etc. Security is very tight, and yet I wonder if it is tight enough.
It is a shame this must be like this. Our innocence is gone.

 

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”

Im sure you have all heard this quote before. Usually credited to Ben Franklin, thought Ive read various arguments questioning its authenticity and the context of its original meaning.

Either way I think its relevant and something to think about. I'm not saying security is not important, but I dont want to end up cowering in fear all my life living in a bunker in a police surveillance state. We need to be addressing the root causes of these acts.

And Ill leave it there as going farther will certainly get us into thread lock territory.

 

Shortly after 9/11 I got activated from my reserve status. After six months of Desert Storm, I got to come back home. I had already seen 8 years of active duty during Vietnam and was there for a year. My Desert Storm time was spent at Walter Reed working 12 hr shifts in the emergency room. We saw a lot of the injured returning from the Middle East.
Being in the. Service 23 years was a real eye opener. Sickening to hear the wines from the PC crowd. Clueless they are.

 

It is sickening that any soldier dealing with the realities of life in active war zones, might return home and be subjected to that clueless PC bunch and their genius solutions...

 

There is no defense for people who disrespect our service men/women, but a lot of the people who question what we are doing over there just dont want to see more of our boys suffer through what you guys had to. And what my brother is still working through from his tour in Op. Iraqi Freedom.

I think that discussion is a healthy one in a strong democracy.

 

Thank you for your service.