Sunday, September 11, 2011
I Will Remember
I will always remember 11 September 2001. I will always remember sitting in my cubicle at work, reviewing help requests, when John L. walked quickly down the hallway toward the conference room, saying planes had hit the World Trade Center. I remember thinking what many others did upon hearing that news, that a couple of small planes had collided and landed on the buildings. As we gathered around the small TV in the conference room we quickly realized what had happened was orders of magnitude worse.
I will always remember going out to my truck to get the New York sectional I had in my ground school materials, to see if it was possible this was some bizarre coincidence of two airliners not maintaining enough of a climb out of one of the New York area airports. As I walked back to the office I noted the clear blue sky, the cool of a not quite early fall day. We didn't have ground school that night, which would have been the first exam and a field trip to the Eglin control tower.
I will always remember the anger I felt as I read the names and stories of the dead. I didn't give a damn about the hijackers beyond how they were able to carry out their deed, and I still don't. But I will always be enraged by that foul act - and no, evil is definitely not too strong a word for it. There are no words too strong for such an act.
I will always remember, as I did today, a few names: Jerome Dominguez, Barbara Olson, and Mychal Judge. But I will also remember those whose names I do not have committed to memory, such as the children on American Airlines Flight 77, headed for an educational trip to California.
I will always remember that there are those such as the hijackers of 9/11 who will hate us, not for anything in particular that we have done, but for the mere fact that we exist. There are those who would destroy us because we allow women to mingle with men without demanding they be covered from head to toe. Fuck them. Fuck them and all who can possibly justify those actions with "it's a cultural thing - we have to understand." Not all of the hatred of our free Constitutionally-based nation comes from Islamic freaks - there are plenty of our "countrymen" who harbor the same feelings.
I will always remember, as cliched as it may be, that freedom isn't free. I will always remember that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. I will always remember that the United States of America, its Declaration of Independence, and its Constitution, are the best hope and model the world has for lasting prosperous freedom.
I will remember.
I will always remember 11 September 2001. I will always remember sitting in my cubicle at work, reviewing help requests, when John L. walked quickly down the hallway toward the conference room, saying planes had hit the World Trade Center. I remember thinking what many others did upon hearing that news, that a couple of small planes had collided and landed on the buildings. As we gathered around the small TV in the conference room we quickly realized what had happened was orders of magnitude worse.
I will always remember going out to my truck to get the New York sectional I had in my ground school materials, to see if it was possible this was some bizarre coincidence of two airliners not maintaining enough of a climb out of one of the New York area airports. As I walked back to the office I noted the clear blue sky, the cool of a not quite early fall day. We didn't have ground school that night, which would have been the first exam and a field trip to the Eglin control tower.
I will always remember the anger I felt as I read the names and stories of the dead. I didn't give a damn about the hijackers beyond how they were able to carry out their deed, and I still don't. But I will always be enraged by that foul act - and no, evil is definitely not too strong a word for it. There are no words too strong for such an act.
I will always remember, as I did today, a few names: Jerome Dominguez, Barbara Olson, and Mychal Judge. But I will also remember those whose names I do not have committed to memory, such as the children on American Airlines Flight 77, headed for an educational trip to California.
I will always remember that there are those such as the hijackers of 9/11 who will hate us, not for anything in particular that we have done, but for the mere fact that we exist. There are those who would destroy us because we allow women to mingle with men without demanding they be covered from head to toe. Fuck them. Fuck them and all who can possibly justify those actions with "it's a cultural thing - we have to understand." Not all of the hatred of our free Constitutionally-based nation comes from Islamic freaks - there are plenty of our "countrymen" who harbor the same feelings.
I will always remember, as cliched as it may be, that freedom isn't free. I will always remember that the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. I will always remember that the United States of America, its Declaration of Independence, and its Constitution, are the best hope and model the world has for lasting prosperous freedom.
I will remember.
Labels: 2996, 9/11, 911, remember
