September 11, 2009

Patsfanin Philly said:

Six years ago on the second anniversary in 2003 I was in NYC and saw the Towers of Light...and put pen to paper......

Memories of 9/11

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I refuse to live in fear.
I am an American.
I will travel whenever I want in this great land of ours
undeterred by the threats of others.
I will take my children to our treasured landmarks
and historical sites.
I will not retreat from an adventuresome journey
because of others with a disdain for our way of life.
It is the legacy of our forefathers who shed their blood
on battlefields throughout the world to protect
our democratic institutions.
I will show my children this country in all its majesty,
from the beauty of a Pacific sunset to the bright lights of Broadway
to the beacon held high by Lady Liberty.
I will show them Ellis Island,
the gateway to a new world with the hopes and dreams of millions.
This nation was forged by an amalgam of spirited people
who believed in self-determination.
I will not bow to those who challenge that notion.
It dishonors the memory of those who have gone before me.
I refuse to let the actions of a few destroy my will.
I will show my children the monuments to our presidents
who persevered in times of crisis and triumphed over evil.
I will show them Arlington National Cemetery
and the graves of those who fell in the defense of freedom.
I will show them a field in the rolling hills of Western Pennsylvania
Where citizen soldiers fought back
and gave their lives in the latest struggle.
I have seen the horrors of that fateful day.
I have watched as flags ruffled in the breeze unbowed
as the smoke rose from the ashes.
Its pungent odor and acrid smell did not destroy our spirit.
I have heard the countless untold stories of heroism
that will stay with me forever.
To live timidly disgraces their honor.
I will keep that dream alive.
I refuse to live in fear.
I am an American.

MKK 9/11/03[/FONT]

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PatsFanSince74 said:

It's a rainy morning in Manhattan and it makes my mental image even starker of the billowing smoke against a beautiful, crystal clear, blue September sky that day.

I'll share a personal story of "life" from that day with the board, obscuring the details a bit to protect someone's privacy.

I have a friend who used to get to her desk at 7:30 every morning on a high floor of the North Tower of the WTC. On the night of September 10th, 2001, her boyfriend (now her husband) asked her to marry him and they stayed out late celebrating. As a result, she was, by her standards, very late for work on September 11, 2001. She was just getting off the Subway at 8:46 instead of sitting in her office, which was vaporized by AA 11, out of Boston.

My wife and I know of many tragic stories from that day; I thought I'd share one that ended with life and new life. My friend and her husband now have a beautiful daughter.

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DaBruinz said:

I moved this over from the political forum. It was shared with us there by PatsfaninPhilly and I wanted to share it with you all.

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PatsRI said:

Always remember. And I remember that first game back against the Jets. Andruzzi brothers and the feeling of togetherness even more than the usual Pats game. (We'll leave the Bledsoe hit out of it for today )

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DaBruinz said:

I moved this over from the political forum. It was shared with us there by PatsfaninPhilly and I wanted to share it with you all.

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Patsfanin Philly said:

Thanks DB. Here's another thought written after returning from Somerset County, PA in September 2001 where Flight 93 went down. I believe it is apolitical enough to stay here...
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Reflections on Freedom and Flight 93


As I stood on that mound of dirt and looked out at the Pennsylvania field that September day, I was reminded of a quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that, "the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands in times of challenge." That recovered strip mine in Somerset County is hallowed ground, as hallowed as the beaches of Normandy, Iwo Jima, Lexington Green or the fields of Gettysburg. It was there that 40 people rose up, joined together to fight back and gave their lives. They were a cross section of America in its truest form. Young and old, married and single, Christian and Jew, straight and gay, black and white, from coast to coast and between they joined together to fight an unspeakable evil.
We'll never know how many people sleep comfortably in their beds tonight thanks to those heroic passengers. It might be your spouse or parents or your children or your nieces or nephews who might have been the intended targets of the hijackers that day. Instead, they made the ultimate sacrifice in that time of challenge.
There were other heroes that day in the Pentagon and at the World Trade Center. From all the military personnel who waded through deadly fire and smoke to rescue unknown comrades because it was the right thing to do to the police officer who died after repeatedly pulling injured survivors out of the burning tower to lead them to safety and going back in to rescue more. Then there's the fire captain who led by example reaching the 78th floor with his men in the hope of rescuing survivors only to lose his life there. I thought of the lawyer who worked in the building next to the World Trade Center who was a part time paramedic. He grabbed his emergency bag, donning a pair of gloves and while others were fleeing to safety went into harm's way to rescue others and died there.
I thought of these people as we served and felt the awesome responsibility to help identify them and bring them home to their families. It was in that time of challenge and crisis that they acted the way we all hope we would have acted. I thought of them as I drove past nearly three hundred miles of flags of every size and shape on the way back home to my family. Suddenly, the colors took on a new meaning in a much more personal way. I understand now why the red is a symbol for the blood spilled in the defense of liberty and purity of the white and the valor of the blue. The flag stands for all that is right with America and is as representative of its freedoms today as it was when first sewn over two centuries ago. When my children ask of heroes, I'll tell them of those who fell on 9/11.

-Michael Kaner (2002)

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italia44 said:

Thank you,so much,for sharing this......God bless the departed and bless us all.......Never Again!

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ctpatsfan77 said:

This is something I wrote eight years ago today on a different message board.

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