To all the families of 9-11....we remember....

Stealing the title from Oprah's show today. She broadcast from New York and featured many of the families of 9-11 victims as well as the men and women who still serve NYC.

We visited the site of the trade centers while we were in NYC last April. It is a sobering experience. Seeing the gaping hole that's left where so many lives so sadly ended...

Yes, the attack was used as propaganda. Yes, we failed them by not continuing on to capture the man responsible. But the heart ache collectively felt by our nation on 9-11 has not disappeared.

My parent's generation asked the question: "Do you remember where you were when Pearl Harbor was attacked?" That event molded their future. The attacks on 9-11 have molded ours.

"Where were you on 9-11?" That's a question I've heard all day. Where was I? Traveling from one school to another. I walked into the office and the secretaries told me a plane hit the first tower. As we talked the second plane hit and we looked at each other, stunned, because when it was one plane we could hope it was an accident. Two meant something very bad was happening. I remember having to go to class and not speak of it to the kids. My heart hurt. I wanted nothing more to leave and get to my family.

Finally our principal allowed us to turn a sanitized news channel for kids on. The news was filtering through the school and he thought it best to tell the kids himself what was happening. We saw the towers fall. The kids asked such good questions and then asked if we were going to war. Ironically some of those, at the time, 7th and 8th graders are now in the military.

Soon tho, state police told our super to get us home. Remember flight 93 dropped its transponder somewhere over WV. They didn't know where the next hit would be or how many more were coming.

I left and went to my mom's. Stayed there until long into the night. I was just shell shocked.

My heart still hurts.

Regardless of what you believe politically, surely we can agree that the attacks on 9-11 were done by cowards to innocents. I don't care what Bin Laden's issues are with America. On 9-11 he sucker punched America and proved himself to be a coward.

We won't forget. We still mourn. Our hearts will remain heavy as long as one person lives that remembers that day of sadness.







Written 1 year after 9-11...


Threads of anger reached across the sea,
winding their way around innocent hearts.
Hate whipped into a frenzy tore sharply into
the fabric of America.

Fingers of rage closed around fragile
lives and claimed them as victims
of their impotent vengeance.

They sought to crush not just the life
but the spirit of America and her people.

Many angels traveled home that day.
Many tears were shed in anguish and sorrow.
Much loathing was returned to those nameless
and faceless mongers of destruction.

But their task failed.

We suffered greatly, but we survived.
We bent, but we were not broken.
We mourn, but we are not in despair.
We hurt, but we are not crippled.
We lost, but we gained in return.
We suffered, but we remembered our pride.
We questioned. We doubted.
But we found ourselves again.

Remember the brave.
Remember the souls that perished.
Honor their memory by
embracing the living.
Honor them by never forgetting.
Honor them by being Americans who live
and work with pride in
themselves as a people.

As long as the American Spirit continues,
we will never be broken.
And we will always remember
who the real heroes are.


In memory of those who perished
in NYC and Washington, DC
on September 11th, 2001
With compassion and a prayer for comfort
for their families and loved ones.