But today is one of those days I feel like I need my voice to be heard. Today is the anniversary of the 911 attacks on this country, and even though there is some skepticism as to why these events happened and or how, all that really matters right now in my opinion is that we remember not only those that passed but also those who selflessly gave their lives to try and protect the lives of others. Specifically our soldiers fighting over there, try to help an adolescent society start thinking in a more peaceful and prosperous way-for the good of the whole world.
I will certainly never forget that day, driving to school listening to the radio and hearing that a plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. My mother calmly assuring me that it must have been an accident and then the phone call from my father that the airport was on lock down and he was not being allowed to get the hell out of the one of the biggest international hubs for air traffic in the world. That sense of fear and doubt that if something did in fact happen at O'hare, I would never see my father again. Thankfully and wonderfully he was able to get off the airport and come pick my brother and I up at school, after watching the second plane hit the second tower and my mother refusing to leave her job to come get her kids that were scared out of their minds, angry, confused and lost. My father, my hero, took his full sized Dodge Ram and drove through two police barracades, risking not only injury but jail time as well to come get me and my younger brother. The cops did let him go, as they too had families and children in school-but bravely and selflessly stayed at their posts on the parimeter of the airprot and let my father go to be with his kids. To mourn the deaths of the countless numbers of people who passed, and to be together as a family. It was armagedon, and we were far from ground zero, but all three of us tried desperatley to stay glued to the television, to commune with those who were in the thick of it, and those who had lost their lives. An impossible task, but one we all felt neccessary as American citizens, as a family. This all might sound a little selfish on my part, I was home with my family, the family that mattered anyway-but I can assure you that's not how I meant it. I wanted to get in the car and drive to NY to help do whatever I could. I was far from legal driving age at that time and my father, who wanted to help too, thought that the safest place for us was right where we were-and also thought, and I think rightfully so, that the people there were doing everything they could and we would surely just be in the way by the time we got there. So instead of driving there, helping out first hand, my brother and I pooled our measly life savings togther and handed it to my father, who pooled it with his own money and we sent that, hoping that our small contribution could help someone, somewhere. I like to think it did, not only for my own peace of mind but also for the sake of those who needed it.
Today is a day for rememberance, thanks, and appreciation. Today as I go about my day making my girlfriends birthday present, skipping my first class, and while in conductin training it will be hard to shake how I'm feeling right now; and I don't want to shake it. This is something we can never forget, make it less dramatic yes, but not forget it. Otherwise I think those who have given their lives, both soldiers and civilians alike, would have done so in vain-and that my friends is almost worse than the attacks themselves.
Here is a list of those soldiers who bravely gave their lives fighting in the middle east:
List
Here is a list of some Iraqis who have also passed
List 2
"Find a way to mourn and honor these dead today. Because how we treat them matters" -Quinn G. Caldwell is Associate Pastor, Old South Church, Boston, Massachusetts.
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