8 Years Ago...

A year ago today, I posted the following on this blog. All that's changed is the passing of another year. I can still remember the day quite vividly and rather than try to reinvent the wheel, what I said last year pretty much sums up my thoughts and feelings surrounding this day.

I remember 9/11/2001 like it was yesterday. I remember where I was when I heard about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. I was in college and my wife (then my fiancee) was at work. She called me in a panic, telling me to turn on the TV to CNN. I started watching just in time to watch the second plane hit live. Then came the report about the Pentagon. Then came the report about Flight 93. I watched those towers fall.

My cousin/roommate and I spent the vast majority of the next few days glued to the 24-hour news channels. It's so strange that it took a day or two to realize we were living through what would go down as a major moment in history. It was brought to my attention when I went back to class that many professors did not see fit to cancel classes on 9/11. That was a major surprise to me. I learned more in those two days after the attacks than I did throughout high school. Not only about how our government works, but what it really means to be an American.

Maybe people haven't forgotten in terms of the historical events that took place, but they have forgotten the helpless emotions that take hold when one realizes how fragile and precious our freedom and liberty really are, and to what lengths some will go in an attempt to destroy them. There was one shot in this program that particularly stands out in my mind. The camera was looking down from about the 3rd or 4th floor of an apartment building. On the street there was a flock of people running from left screen to right, fleeing the devastation at the towers. Making their way through the people, walking the opposite direction, were the brave FDNY firefighters as they moved in toward the towers, preparing to go up and save as many as they could. Many of these heroes did not come back out alive. It really made me stop and think.

We live in the most blessed country on the face of the Earth. We have freedom to pursue our passions, worship our God how we choose, and build a life for ourselves and our families that is limited only by our own desire and ambition. But those freedoms penned into our founding documents are worthless without the dedication and sacrifice of certain people. Without selfless first responders like police officers, EMTs, and firefighters, as well as those in the military which defend our freedoms from enemies both foreign and domestic, we would be lost. Thank God for each of you, we owe you a debt we can never repay.

God Bless America.