Never Forget

There are certain moments for all of us that we will never forget as individuals; graduations, weddings, birth of children. And there are moments that we will never forget as a country, for my generation; the Challenger Explosion, and Oklahoma City bombing. And there are moments that we will never forget as a world. 9-11 is that moment. It is a moment that any American old enough to remember something will never forget, but it also effected the entire world. Places like Gander, Newfoundland(The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland, excellent book about the people of the town and the people who found themselves there) took in more people than the towns population and they weren't alone. With all planes grounded people found themselves in cities they never expected to to have layovers in, much less layovers of 3 days.

I will never forget the day, I remember being on my way to work when I heard news of the first tower being hit. I was on I-35 in North Kansas City. I couldn't believe someone didn't see the WTC and hit it with a plane, I mean it's not some small building in the middle of nowhere. I remember the radio station I was listening to talking about a small plane hitting the building. Then they went to a song and moments later they interrupted a song, which is very unusual on a sunny clear day in Kansas City. I couldn't imagine what was so important that they were interrupting a song. I remember the person who did the news coming on and saying "we just watched a 2nd plane slam into the other tower, this is not an accident." At the time I worked at the VFW National Headquarters. I remember trying to work and just sitting listening to the radio, no station was playing music. I remember working on some project and the radio station coming on to say the Pentagon had been hit. My boss knew people who worked at the Pentagon, someone who wrote articles for our newsletter worked at the Pentagon, and the people who ran our database weren't far from the Pentagon. Life in our office took a turn. And then later we heard the news of Flight 93 who was full of everyday heroes.

It's hard to believe it's been 10 years since that day. I remember the next few days worrying that there was more to come. Our office was on the 7th floor and not far from the Downtown Kansas City airport and close enough to the main airport that we were used to seeing planes constantly flying by. Those 3 days that the air space was closed was strange. I remember when planes started flying again kind of holding our breaths every time a plane flew by. I remember watching the sporting events when they resumed and crying. Anyone who knows me knows I cry at everything, so this was no surprise and yet I was surprised at the amount of tears that flowed for normal things in sporting events.

And so I sit on the 10th anniversary of that horrible day and I remember the emotions of the day. I remember the unity that flowed from everyone every where that day. I remember the pride I felt as an American. I remember that I will Never Forget!

  This is one of my favorite images that came out of 9-11.