10 years after the World Trade Center was struck by two hijacked passenger planes - and then the Twin Towers and surrounding buildings collapsed.
10 years after a hijacked passenger plane flew into the Pentagon.
10 years after 40 brave men and women, non-combatants, learning via cellphone of the attacks in NYC and Washington, D.C., decided that they would not go down without a flight - and rushed the terrorists in the plane's cockpit. The outcome was brutal yet bravery personified - the plane crashed into a field outside Shanksville, Pa. - no one survived. Uncommon courage that day at all the places attacked. New York firefighters and policemen ran INTO the WTC as people rushed OUT. They went into harm's way, not with guns and bullets, but with their willing hearts and hands to help people get out of the horror that had transpired around them. And many NYPD and NYFD did not survive. They gave their lives so that others might live.
This past weekend, our nation remembered, with telecasts from all the major networks that relived that day - the planes' collisions, the people jumping from the WTC - choosing to die THEIR way, the horrific sight of the massive towers falling, the growing, gray cloud that rolled down the streets between the buildings like a monstrous flood - but it wasn't water, it was dust and dirt and debris from those huge buildings. The after-view of the buildings' fall was just as brutal to witness. The people, vehicles, wreckage, still-standing buildings in the close avenues - all covered with the white/grayish dust that made it look like a alien planet suddenly appeared on our television screens.
The past two days were solemn ceremonies of that day to commemorate the dead - and the families left behind. After 10 years, the sites still do not have completed memorials, but what does exist are moving. At the field in Pennsylvania, are forty, 8-foot tall, white marble vertical slabs, with each slab engraved with the name of the 40 passengers and crew. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton spoke eloquent, heart-felt words about those brave souls who sacrificed themselves to prevent an attack on our nation's capital. Vice President Biden also spoke and he was very moving as well.
It was refreshing to see unity there - for the past 10 years there hasn't been much of that in our country. There was for a few weeks after 9/11/01. President Bush gave speeches that inspired, the country was behind him nearly 100% to invade Afghanistan to destroy the al Qaeda strongholds and terrorist training camps.
Then we invaded Iraq (yes, I was there on the ground at the time) and then the country's unity began to dissolve. The rancor of the left (Democrats) against the right (Republicans) grew stronger and now they've polarized the country.
But I digress...
Today, President Obama and George Bush, with their wives, attended the 9/11 ceremonies at the WTC, NYC. Sad, solemn, heartbreaking. And the words were, again, respectful and inspiring.
God bless America - is all that I can finish this with ... I pray for so many this evening.
This past weekend, our nation remembered, with telecasts from all the major networks that relived that day - the planes' collisions, the people jumping from the WTC - choosing to die THEIR way, the horrific sight of the massive towers falling, the growing, gray cloud that rolled down the streets between the buildings like a monstrous flood - but it wasn't water, it was dust and dirt and debris from those huge buildings. The after-view of the buildings' fall was just as brutal to witness. The people, vehicles, wreckage, still-standing buildings in the close avenues - all covered with the white/grayish dust that made it look like a alien planet suddenly appeared on our television screens.
The past two days were solemn ceremonies of that day to commemorate the dead - and the families left behind. After 10 years, the sites still do not have completed memorials, but what does exist are moving. At the field in Pennsylvania, are forty, 8-foot tall, white marble vertical slabs, with each slab engraved with the name of the 40 passengers and crew. Former Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton spoke eloquent, heart-felt words about those brave souls who sacrificed themselves to prevent an attack on our nation's capital. Vice President Biden also spoke and he was very moving as well.
It was refreshing to see unity there - for the past 10 years there hasn't been much of that in our country. There was for a few weeks after 9/11/01. President Bush gave speeches that inspired, the country was behind him nearly 100% to invade Afghanistan to destroy the al Qaeda strongholds and terrorist training camps.
Then we invaded Iraq (yes, I was there on the ground at the time) and then the country's unity began to dissolve. The rancor of the left (Democrats) against the right (Republicans) grew stronger and now they've polarized the country.
But I digress...
Today, President Obama and George Bush, with their wives, attended the 9/11 ceremonies at the WTC, NYC. Sad, solemn, heartbreaking. And the words were, again, respectful and inspiring.
God bless America - is all that I can finish this with ... I pray for so many this evening.
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