9/11/11

Ten years.

Ten years since that awful, dark and angry day.

I was getting ready to head to the airport to catch a plane to Chicago, for business. My wife was preparing for her day. We had the TV in the bedroom on. That’s where we first heard the news that a plane had hit the north tower. All you could do is stare in disbelief at the screen and wonder…how? And…why?

I had to keep getting ready, if I was going to make my flight. But, I found myself drawn back to the screen…just in time to watch the other plane hit the south tower. My nervousness, started at the first “unfortunate” impact dialed up about 100 times when I then realized that this was not an accident. I knew then we were under attack.

I was in a fog, but I kept moving on with my plans for the morning. And, as I kissed my wife and got in my car to leave for my trip, I did have the thought “will I ever see her again?” Yes, I was that nervous.

I went on to SeaTac. I thought that, if I couldn’t fly today, that I would be stopped and turned back. At least I hoped they would. I also felt that nobody knew (at that point in time) what we were up against…exactly.

By the time I reached the parking garage, parked and was walking in to the terminal, someone coming out said that they had hit the Pentagon. We were at war, on our own home soil. This was not good. But, on I went.

The security check was extremely tense. The security guards had no clue what was going on or what they were supposed to do. But they checked my ID and boarding pass and allowed me through. So down I went to the underground train platform to go out to the north satellite. I noticed only one other person on the platform with me. We waited for the train to come.

When It arrived, it was packed full of people – they were pressed against the windows. As the doors opened and they spilled out, there was very little talking going on…hardly a word spoken. As there had not been any announcements over the loudspeakers, the other man and I got on the train and traveled out to the satellite.

When we got there, the platform was also packed with people. I pushed through and started up the escalator when I heard the announcement that SeaTac Airport was closed and we were directed to return to the terminal and leave immediately. Finally, some direction! So, back I went.

As I was leaving the terminal to return to my car, I encountered a colleague from my firm, Alan. I updated him on what I knew and proceeded to my car.

As I was driving out of the airport, I noted that the Washington State Patrol and the King County Sheriff had the entrance road blockaded. And, even as they were turning cars back, people were trying to drive around the blockade on the shoulder of the road to get to a flight they would never take! It’s amazing to me the rationale some folks have when they are in a state of shock.

Needless to say, I did not fly on September 11th. I returned to my firm’s offices and watched with everyone there as the towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, creating a wound not only on lower Manhattan Island, but on our collective heart as a nation. Over the coming days and weeks, I was (I’ll admit it) moved to tears by the outpouring of support our country received from around the globe. I was also heartened by the increase in the overt demonstrations of our patriotism. I knew we would prevail – we always have. I recalled the words of another foe, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, after his attack on Pearl Harbor: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”

The stunning architecture of the memorial at Ground Zero does a lot to heal the scar on New York City. It is a beautiful tribute to those lost, our heroes in all sense of the word. If you haven’t already, I strongly recommend that you go to the website http://www.911memorial.org/ and look at the animation showing the final vision for this place. It will take your breath away.

But the ten-year anniversary is a bittersweet one. Not only for the families and their lost loved ones, but also for our country. We were drug into a fierce and somewhat misguided war that cost more lives and has taken its toll on our spirit. Eventually, thanks to our current leaders, we did bring justice to the mastermind of this horror – that was our resolve. But, it has done little, if anything to bring a high degree of satisfaction to us as citizens. Thanks to these villains, we will never find the peace we once enjoyed. We will always be on alert.

And now, the spirit we saw demonstrated after 9/11, by fields of American flags and our readiness to defend each other’s lives and liberties against this unseen enemy has faded into the fog. We have become a more divisive country – red states vs. blue states, rich vs. poor, haves vs. have not’s, whatever you name it. We have lost our unity. Rather than seeing us succeed as a country, some of us would rather destroy it in the quest to be right (in their narrow view.) There is a push to take, take, take at a time where we need to give, give, give. It has created a class struggle that will continue unchecked unless we see it for what it is – us completing the mission started by the evil behind this dark episode in our history. To quote Pogo: “We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

It doesn’t have to be this way, folks. If you need to “return” to some sort of founding value in this country, why not start with the Declaration of Independence:
“…And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”

President Obama said it best: “Young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans have sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of red states and blue states,” he said. “We have been and always will be the United States of America.”

What say you, America?

What say you on this Patriot’s Day?