911 – We Must Not Forget

Where were you and what did you do when you heard about the 911 attacks? What did you do to move on?

I think we revisit this topic every 911, but I think it’s important that we don’t forget.  

In the United States, September 11th has been changed from another day on the calendar, to a day we remember as one of America’s greatest tragedies.   On September 11, 2001 19 Islamic extremist from the group al-Qaeda, stole 4 air planes to wreak havoc on our country. Two of the planes were flown into the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. 

I remember being in the dentist chair having my teeth cleaned and we had the radio on. The hygienist cleaning my teeth stopped working and said, “Did they just say a plane hit one of the towers?”

I replied, “It sure sounded like it.” 

She turned the radio up and we both were stunned at what we were listening to. As I left the dental office, it still had not been determined that it was terrorists.  I walked to my car, and as I started it up and began driving to work, the second plane hit. I pulled over and listened as the announcer said, “We are under attack.”

I’ll never forget the feeling of numbness. Never having lived through anything like this, I continued on my way to work, and upon arriving at the office, one of the girls there, who lived very close and run home and brought in a small television that we crowded around watching the third plane crash into the Pentagon.  Then later in the morning the fourth plane hitting the field in Pennsylvania.  The day was one of disbelief and then fear. My son Zach was a Marine and my immediate dread was that he would be deployed.  I was right, we was activated and deployed to Iraq early the following year, but that’s a different story.

To deal with this terrible feeling of being under attack and unable to do anything about it, President Bush encouraged us to continue on with our lives. That by not doing that, we were letting them win. Days and then weeks went by and I remember watching the news reports of the resilient people cleaning up the after math in New York and at the Pentagon.  They continued on.  They persevered as they dug out the rubble and found their lost family members and co-workers.  The police and fire fighters found their lost comrades and mourned, but still they moved on. 

New York strengthened and rebuilt. The Pentagon strengthened and rebuilt.  The families who lost loved ones, learned to live without that special person in their lives.

This is the strength of humans.  We are able to stand up, dust ourselves off and move forward, even when a little piece of our heart is gone.

[tweet_box design=”default” float=”none” excerpt=”Do you remember where you were when you heard about 911? #NeverForget @pfiala “]Do you remember where you were when you heard about 911? [/tweet_box]What did you do to move on?  Let me know and then lets hop on over and see what my fellow bloggers did to rebuild.

 


5 thoughts on “911 – We Must Not Forget”

  1. What blows my mind is that there are still human remains that haven’t been identified. They are only pieces, but as technology advances, researchers are finding ways to link them to the person they came from.

  2. I can’t believe it’s been 16 years! I can remember it like yesterday. We ABSOLUTELY can NOT ever forget. Great post, thank you.

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