Never Forget

A year ago today we were in the middle of a very heated presidential campaign. My post on that day was a plea for the insults and criticisms to be put on hold long enough to remember what united us on this date in 2001. A year ago I never imagined we could be more divided than we were then. Unfortunately, a year later it seems as though we are.

Anyone over the age of 15 probably has memories from that day eight years ago. I remember watching the morning telecast with my 6 month old baby in my arms wondering how the world she was going to grow up in was going to be changed. That same 6 month old is now a 3rd grader and one of this week's homework assignments was to interview us about that day. What were we doing when we heard the news. How did it make us feel? Our answers were the same as probably most of the other parents. Dumbfounded and numb at first as you were transfixed on the TV...making sense of what you were watching. Then as you heard about the Pentagon...terrified. What would be the next target?? Then the towers fell. And it turned to anger. An anger that brewed from deep inside. An anger that you didn't even know you possessed. That anger turned us all into patriots. The flags were proudly displayed everywhere. We all shared our stories, our fears and our unity. We were proud to be Americans. For months that followed...we were not Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians or Independents. We were Americans. United.

Call me idealistic. Call me a fool. But I continue to pray that we can come through this turmoil and become united again. And that it doesn't take another national tragedy...a tragedy that claimed 2,996 innocent lives (and that's not counting the lives of servicemen and women lost in the war that's followed), to get there.