Remembering Sepember 11th

Like every American I can recall vividly turning on my television set and seeing the first moments after the plane crashed into the World trade Center on September 11, 2001.

There was a great deal of confusion as to what had happened. The hosts of NBC's Today show were commenting that they believed a small, personal plane had crashed into the World trade Center. They expressed concern for the pilot and crew of the plane and speculated how long it might take to get the building fire under control. There were comparisons to the crash of a military plane into the Empire Satate building in the 1950's.

Accidents happen, they concluded.

Then, we all watched in horror as the second plane sped rapidly in from the south and made a deliberate hard turn directly into the second tower, sending up a huge black and orange fireball and scattering debris from the impact several hundred yards from building.

We now knew that an accident hadn't 'happened'. We were seeing a deliberate act of terrorism that would result in the loss of thousands of lives of innocent men, women and children of every religious, ethnic and cultural background and representative of multiple nations from around the world.

Most of us had no idea that this much hatred existed in the world.

As I sat transfixed in front of TV and watched the barve efforts of New York Firemen, rescue personnel, and Policemen to evacuate the towers and help those escaped I began to realize what an impossible task these brave men and women had. There could be no way to rescue all of the people starnded in the floors above the inferno burning in each tower. Later, there were reports, but thank goodness no TV shots, of people, human beings who had done nothing to deserve this fate, jumping from windows 100 stories above street level and crashing to their deaths.

Later, within hours of the first plane crash the towers collapsed, killing all who were unable to escape and many of those who were attempting to save them.

I am a tough, some would say rugged man, who has seen many tragic events and have personally survived acts of violence and some life threatening accidents, but nothing affected me as much as witnessing this horror. I sat in my den with tears running uncontrollably down my cheeks. I could not talk. I could not hear. I could not blink. I sobbed.

Today watching the ceremony recognizing the anniversary of this tragedy the tears are still there.

The nation came together on September 11th. There were no Democrats, no Republicans, just Americans united in grief and and a desire to do whatever it takes to prevent a recurrence of such a heinous act.

What happened to us?