OT: Remembering 9/11/01..

[DaBruinz]

From @Patsfanin Philly circa 2009. (corrected)

Recently, I was blessed with meeting the person who wrote the following poem. This person was someone who was affected directly by what happened that day 8 years ago.. 6 years ago, on the 2nd anniversary of this tragedy, he went to "Ground Zero". Upon looking at the Towers of Light tht night, he was touched so deeply, he wrote the following and has since shared it with me. I now share it with you, my friends and family, as the 8th anniversary draws near......



Memories of 9/11

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




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

 

[DaBruinz]

9/11/16 - 15 Years Later


On 9/11, 2001, at 8:46 am, I was at work in Salisbury, North Carolina. A fellow colleague of mine ran into the shop and was telling people that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. I can remember standing there in shock and then going into the main office, where there was a TV set up. They had the news on.. At that moment, 9:03 am, I stared in sheer terror as I watched the second plane ram into the WTC... 34 minutes later, still not having recovered from the shock of the first two planes, the news flashed that a plane had hit the Pentagon..

I was numb. I watched both towers come down... Tears streaming down my face as hundred of rescue workers lost their lives trying to save others.. I wondered about my dad, who traveled so much.. And had taken those flights on previous occasions.. Was he ok??

As many as 20000 people were thought to be in the WTC Buildings in NYC. Another 10000 or so in the Pentagon.. No one knew the exact number because the business day had just started..

I wanted to leave to go to NYC.. I wanted to help dig and try to find people.. But, I couldn't.. Rudy Guiliani came on the air and asked people from other states to stay home.

The news rocked us again. All flights were cancelled until further notice.. I looked outside and did not see any contrails.. The sky was clear.. Eerily clear.. I didn't sleep that night.. I was numb.. I cried.. I was scared... I had friends in NYC and in Washington DC.. I hadn't heard from them.. Were they safe??? I didn't know.. I'd heard from my dad.. He was shaken.. I'd only heard him shaken like that once before.. When there were bomb threats on the base when we lived in Germany.. I felt selfish and ashamed because I was relieved that my dad was safe..

It's 15 years later and I'm crying again.. The pain hasn't gone away. It hasn't subsided. I haven't forgotten. How could I? I could have been on one of those planes.. I could have had friends or family on them. Millions of people were directly affected.. Hundreds of millions indirectly.

I've not forgotten.. When I looked up a few days later to see the contrails in the sky, it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen,,.. But it wasn't the same..Life was different now... Machine Gun toting soldiers at the airports.. Flags flying across the country. We had been drawn together, hardened. So I thought... But now, others have forgotten. Too many have forgotten. People who were just babies or toddlers were never taught what happened. Too many think it won't happen again.. Too many have become complacent and forgotten the price of our freedom.

9/11/01 changed this country for a brief period of time. We saw the Patriotism and support for our military that we hadn't seen since WWII. And it made you proud to be an American. But, over time, there has been a bunch of crap added that is just for show and we've had several lesser attacks in our country that have left over 100 innocents dead and nearly 200 wounded.

Now, we have people telling us that the Patriotism we felt that day and years since is wrong. That showing our Patriotism is offensive to Muslims and that we shouldn't do it. That it's offensive to Muslims for our first responders to fly the American flag from their trucks. Some have gone so far as to say that we were at fault for the attacks and the terrorists were "justified". It's utterly disgusting. These people are the ones crapping on the memories of the 2,993 people who were murdered that day. Who are crapping on the memories of the 343 first responders who lost their lives that day. Who are crapping on the memories of the 7500 men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Many of us have not forgotten. But we need to stand up and put a stop to those who would have us embrace the very way of life that has threatened to destroy us. If we falter, then those people who were murdered and the people who have died since will have died in vain..

The price. Paid by the innocent. By the heroes. By the soldiers who do their duty every day. But I won't forgot. Not now.. Not tomorrow.. Not ever. The guilt of forgetting would be too much to bear..

9/11/2001 and 12/7/1941. The days when Freedom was threatened. The days when the world refused to let a sleeping giant lie. The days that we all should remember lest we become our enemies... The days that our enemies should regret...


-JDP 9/11/16

 

[woolster22]

We have to remember 9/11 so we all forget what was announced on 9/10.

Tower 7 wasn't hit. It also stored all the financial records for the Pentagon that had just announced 2.3T missing the day before.

Shhh, don't ask questions, just back the unnecessary wars that come as a result.

 

[Kasmir]

We have to remember 9/11 so we all forget what was announced on 9/10.

Tower 7 wasn't hit. It also stored all the financial records for the Pentagon that had just announced 2.3T missing the day before.

Shhh, don't ask questions, just back the unnecessary wars that come as a result.

Wow! I hope they've since learned about off-site backup!

 

[woolster22]

Wow! I hope they've since learned about off-site backup!

You think black ops budgets/spending and money laundering schemes get copied electronically?

Any interest in a bridge to nowhere?

 

[PatsWSB47]

We have to remember 9/11 so we all forget what was announced on 9/10.

Tower 7 wasn't hit. It also stored all the financial records for the Pentagon that had just announced 2.3T missing the day before.

Shhh, don't ask questions, just back the unnecessary wars that come as a result.

Tin foil is on sale at Target in case you're running low

 

[oldrover]

 

[mgteich]

A fellow worker was on the phone with someone at the tower when the plane hir.

 

[Guts]

Was only 10 at the time and even as a kid I felt the whole world stop.

 

[sb1]

Not that much into country music but I always liked this Toby Keith song commemorating this day.

 

[mgcolby]

To my brethren and civilians that didn't go home that day. We will never forget!

Edit: Removed the first sentence as the post I was replying to was removed.

 

[DaBruinz]

The Forgotten Miracle of the 9/11 Boat Evacuation | The Saturday Evening Post

On September 11, 2001, hundreds of boats came to the rescue of 500,000 people stranded in Manhattan – the largest sea evacuation in recorded history. One woman tells the story of what she witnessed that day.

www.saturdayeveningpost.com

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

From @patsfaninpa circa 2009.

Recently, I was blessed with meeting the person who wrote the following poem. This person was someone who was affected directly by what happened that day 8 years ago.. 6 years ago, on the 2nd anniversary of this tragedy, he went to "Ground Zero". Upon looking at the Towers of Light tht night, he was touched so deeply, he wrote the following and has since shared it with me. I now share it with you, my friends and family, as the 8th anniversary draws near......



Memories of 9/11

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


View attachment 52636

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

Thank you. As the author of above ( I am MKK) I am honored that others appreciated it. I was and am part of a Federal Disaster recovery team ( DMORT that goes in (at the invitation of local authorities) when there is a disaster that overwhelms them, be it 9/11, Katrina, Covid or other disasters. There was a team in Hawai'i recently identifying that killed in Maui..... I was on the ground in Western PA the next day and in NYC one day a week until May 2002 helping identify those killed. Like Fight Club, first rule is you don't say anything specific to protect those killed and their families but it affects you. Some do it once and unfortunately develop PTSD, other do it again and again and don't think twice. I don't know if that means I am strong or just insensitive. If affects you knowing you are helping others ( heroes of Flight 93) while at the same time there was unspeakable evil... 22 years dulls some of it but I see a name and can recall the entire story of their identification. There were stories of heroism we can only hope that we would have done the same if it came to be... If you can, go to the Flight 93 Memorial in western PA, it is extremely well done ....

 

[mgcolby]

Thank you. As the author of above ( I am MKK) I am honored that others appreciated it. I was and am part of a Federal Disaster recovery team ( DMORT that goes in (at the invitation of local authorities) when there is a disaster that overwhelms them, be it 9/11, Katrina, Covid or other disasters. There was a team in Hawai'i recently identifying that killed in Maui..... I was on the ground in Western PA the next day and in NYC one day a week until May 2002 helping identify those killed. Like Fight Club, first rule is you don't say anything specific to protect those killed and their families but it affects you. Some do it once and unfortunately develop PTSD, other do it again and again and don't think twice. I don't know if that means I am strong or just insensitive. If affects you knowing you are helping others ( heroes of Flight 93) while at the same time there was unspeakable evil... 22 years dulls some of it but I see a name and can recall the entire story of their identification. There were stories of heroism we can only hope that we would have done the same if it came to be... If you can, go to the Flight 93 Memorial in western PA, it is extremely well done ....

Did you write the second part that DaBruinz posted as well?

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

What was posted was a followup to something I wrote immediately after 9/11.....and is below....

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.
MKK

 

[mgcolby]

Wow! I don't know how you can open up and poor all that out. That is impressive.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Did you write the second part that DaBruinz posted as well?

No, just the first post ( with the lights)

 

[Kontradiction]

 

[DaBruinz]

Thank you. As the author of above ( I am MKK) I am honored that others appreciated it. I was and am part of a Federal Disaster recovery team ( DMORT that goes in (at the invitation of local authorities) when there is a disaster that overwhelms them, be it 9/11, Katrina, Covid or other disasters. There was a team in Hawai'i recently identifying that killed in Maui..... I was on the ground in Western PA the next day and in NYC one day a week until May 2002 helping identify those killed. Like Fight Club, first rule is you don't say anything specific to protect those killed and their families but it affects you. Some do it once and unfortunately develop PTSD, other do it again and again and don't think twice. I don't know if that means I am strong or just insensitive. If affects you knowing you are helping others ( heroes of Flight 93) while at the same time there was unspeakable evil... 22 years dulls some of it but I see a name and can recall the entire story of their identification. There were stories of heroism we can only hope that we would have done the same if it came to be... If you can, go to the Flight 93 Memorial in western PA, it is extremely well done ....

I want to apologize to you. I always get you and PatsfaninPA confused. I've corrected my post accordingly.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I want to apologize to you. I always get you and PatsfaninPA confused. I've corrected my post accordingly.

No apology needed.... I'm the better looking one....