I would be completely remiss if I allowed this day to go by unnoticed by this blog. Five years ago the United States experienced the greatest tragedy ever to fall upon it's soil when we were attacked by terrorists. It's honestly a day that will never, ever leave my memory.
I was talking with a couple of people at work today and we were discussing the moments of our lives that occur on such a grand scale that we will always "remember where you were" when they occurred. For me, there are three:
1) President Ronald Reagan is shot (1981). I remember this not because I remember IT, but because I remember where I was when my dad hit the ceiling when we found out. I literally have never seen my dad (up to that point) mad at anything. He was jumping up and down and angry. I was only 5 or 6 years old and I still remember seeing the video replayed on TV over and over again. The President waved. Shots rang out. Chaos ensued as Secret Service attempted to push the President into the limo quickly and out of harms way. Other Agents tackled John Hinckley, Jr and wrestled the gun away from him. But it was too late...Reagan had been wounded, but not mortally. He recovered and so did the nation. It was my first taste that I remember of great national trauma...
2) The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (1986). I was in the library with my class. We were checking out books as we normally did once a week. In fact, we would check out books as well as have some reading time. We were all quietly reading away as my teacher came down to get us saying that we needed to quickly follow her to one of the 5th grade classrooms where they had a television and were watching the shuttle launch. As we arrived at the classroom we crowded in and watched as the shuttle launched, shooting straight into the sky...I can still see the sky distored by the burn trails of the boosters. And then it happened...almost as if it were just a puff of smoke and then something shot off into the sky as the smoke trail split in two. When the shuttle didn't appear on the other side of the smoke, everyone knew. For teachers and students everywhere this hit a nerve because it was the first shuttle trip to include a civilian...more specifically a teacher -- Christa McAuliffe. Manned spaceflight did not resume for two years... As President Reagan spoke on TV that night, we were nationally brought to memorial of the seven men and women who died in the name of the U.S. and space exploration.
3) 9/11/2001. That morning I woke up a little later than normal because I had a client appointment first thing that morning 15 minutes from my house. I got up and for some reason didn't turn on a TV or radio as I normally would. I ate a bite of breakfast and headed for work. As I drove along I listened to the radio as I always did, but I turned it on late into my 15 minute drive so all I heard were mostly "something terrible is going on in New York..." It wasn't until I arrived at my appointment that things began to unfold. I was sitting quietly working on their network casually talking with the ladies in the office periodically when a plant foreman came in and turned on the TVs they had there in the office. "Have you all seen what's going on???" We hadn't...but as soon as he turned on the TV, there it was in living color...the replay of United Airlines flight 175 crashing into the second tower. As reports flooded in about the airplanes in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, we all sat in devastation wondering if it was all a dream. Surely no one would be so bold as to dare come to our home and try and destroy it. But they did. As the following days and weeks unfolded things fell into a media and politcal nightmare...but for a short time, we rallied as we hadn't in a long time. A nation normally divided against itself on so many fronts suddenly prayed together, sang together, saluted together and vowed to show the enemy that they couldn't come in a push us around and get away with it. After 5 years of fighting and ups and downs, we are possibly faced with greater tragedy and an inevitable world war against those same people who still want our way of life destroyed if we do not assimilate. But in the end, come what may, God will prevail against the forces of evil as he always does. And likely, America will overcome and win the day
So what have we learned from our history...and what will we learn yet? America is resiliant -- but we cannot do it alone. I pray we learn that if nothing else we must always lean upon the God of the universe to find strength, comfort, and the light to guide our way. And if the need arises to endure tragedy once again upon our soil or wherever it occurs, I pray we once again as a nation come together to defend our home and freedom.
"Where were you when the world stopped turning...that September day?" -- Alan Jackson
Until next time...God bless you and may God bless America...
I was talking with a couple of people at work today and we were discussing the moments of our lives that occur on such a grand scale that we will always "remember where you were" when they occurred. For me, there are three:
1) President Ronald Reagan is shot (1981). I remember this not because I remember IT, but because I remember where I was when my dad hit the ceiling when we found out. I literally have never seen my dad (up to that point) mad at anything. He was jumping up and down and angry. I was only 5 or 6 years old and I still remember seeing the video replayed on TV over and over again. The President waved. Shots rang out. Chaos ensued as Secret Service attempted to push the President into the limo quickly and out of harms way. Other Agents tackled John Hinckley, Jr and wrestled the gun away from him. But it was too late...Reagan had been wounded, but not mortally. He recovered and so did the nation. It was my first taste that I remember of great national trauma...
2) The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster (1986). I was in the library with my class. We were checking out books as we normally did once a week. In fact, we would check out books as well as have some reading time. We were all quietly reading away as my teacher came down to get us saying that we needed to quickly follow her to one of the 5th grade classrooms where they had a television and were watching the shuttle launch. As we arrived at the classroom we crowded in and watched as the shuttle launched, shooting straight into the sky...I can still see the sky distored by the burn trails of the boosters. And then it happened...almost as if it were just a puff of smoke and then something shot off into the sky as the smoke trail split in two. When the shuttle didn't appear on the other side of the smoke, everyone knew. For teachers and students everywhere this hit a nerve because it was the first shuttle trip to include a civilian...more specifically a teacher -- Christa McAuliffe. Manned spaceflight did not resume for two years... As President Reagan spoke on TV that night, we were nationally brought to memorial of the seven men and women who died in the name of the U.S. and space exploration.
3) 9/11/2001. That morning I woke up a little later than normal because I had a client appointment first thing that morning 15 minutes from my house. I got up and for some reason didn't turn on a TV or radio as I normally would. I ate a bite of breakfast and headed for work. As I drove along I listened to the radio as I always did, but I turned it on late into my 15 minute drive so all I heard were mostly "something terrible is going on in New York..." It wasn't until I arrived at my appointment that things began to unfold. I was sitting quietly working on their network casually talking with the ladies in the office periodically when a plant foreman came in and turned on the TVs they had there in the office. "Have you all seen what's going on???" We hadn't...but as soon as he turned on the TV, there it was in living color...the replay of United Airlines flight 175 crashing into the second tower. As reports flooded in about the airplanes in Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon, we all sat in devastation wondering if it was all a dream. Surely no one would be so bold as to dare come to our home and try and destroy it. But they did. As the following days and weeks unfolded things fell into a media and politcal nightmare...but for a short time, we rallied as we hadn't in a long time. A nation normally divided against itself on so many fronts suddenly prayed together, sang together, saluted together and vowed to show the enemy that they couldn't come in a push us around and get away with it. After 5 years of fighting and ups and downs, we are possibly faced with greater tragedy and an inevitable world war against those same people who still want our way of life destroyed if we do not assimilate. But in the end, come what may, God will prevail against the forces of evil as he always does. And likely, America will overcome and win the day
So what have we learned from our history...and what will we learn yet? America is resiliant -- but we cannot do it alone. I pray we learn that if nothing else we must always lean upon the God of the universe to find strength, comfort, and the light to guide our way. And if the need arises to endure tragedy once again upon our soil or wherever it occurs, I pray we once again as a nation come together to defend our home and freedom.
"Where were you when the world stopped turning...that September day?" -- Alan Jackson
Until next time...God bless you and may God bless America...
