You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy.™
10 years since 911.
I cannot believe that much time has transpired.
Lives changed, lives lost, a world forever rocked on its axis.
We all know where we were on that fateful day.
“where were you….”
The memories are vivid and powerful and now apart of the American fabric of life.
Security checks at sporting events. TSA glad handing my package at the airport. 5 kinds of id to buy fertilizer and Budweiser at the Mapco.
Thanks 911.
The images of that horrific day are now replaying with frequency on the news.
Powerful imagery of a stunned President Bush sitting in a classroom having learned that another jet has hit another tower. Was he dumbfounded? Was he pondering his next move? Was he trying to keep calm. The cameras zoomed in to a President whose presidency would be forever linked to this attrocity.
Powerful imagery of bloody faced people racing along chaotic New York City streets swirling with confusion. The sound of fire fighter breathing apparatus alarms ringing incessentantly. The imagery of people walking the streets like zombies holding pictures of their loved ones now missing in the rubble.
Imagery of a jet flying into a shimmering glass building and a fire ball exploding against a clear blue sky. Imagery of dark plumes of smoke at the Pentagon, a seemingly inpenetrable fortress of American might. Imagery of a smoldering pile of debris in a bucolic field in Pennsylvania.
9 1 1
“where were you when…”
It was one of the seminal moments in this nation’s history. It was the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was the 1929 crash of Wall Street. It was Man landing on the moon.
“where were you when….”
It is a sad chapter in our history but it has also made us more aware, more vigilent. We lost our innocence that day.
How can you not be stained by the image of a jet flying into the Pentagon into the World Trade Center?
How can you not be angered by the thought of average Americans forced to rise from their airline seats and fight hijackers armed with box cutters.
“Let’s Roll”
We once insourciantly said; “that could never happen here.” And then it happened here.
And the world changed in the blink of an eye; a terrible, explosive, fire ball of a blink of an eye.
As the towers crumbled on CNN, Osama Bin Laden threw a tupper ware party to celebrate our momentary demise.
America was galvanized and we chased that son of a bitch into a cave and into the mountains of hell and ultimately shot him through his stinking turbin in what passes for a mansion in Pakistan.
Nighty Night Osama.
10 years?
Unreal. Unbelievable. Like a dream. Like a nightmare. A reminder. A beacon to now navigate by.
9 1 1.
Children who grew up with no memories of their mom or dad now fill my screen and sadden my heart.
I wish I could hug all these kids and take them to Disney World just to say “i’m sorry.”
Firefighter faces etched on stone memorials at ground zero fill my soul. Beams of light slicing into the night sky make me want to cry. Tranquil pools where the towers once burned to the ground make me wonder “how the hell did it happen?”
It’s all so surreal.
They say we must learn from the past lest we are doomed to repeat it.
Let’s learn. Let’s honor. Let’s remember. Let’s move forward.
September 12th 2011.
It’s a brand new day.
And that is refreshingly crazy.™