The TRUTH about 9/11/01
I was getting ready to go to school. It was still dark
out.
The phone rang. It was our neighbor Caroline
Mays.
We never really watched TV let alone the morning news.
The high-pitched static as the TV switched on.
The rest of the day is a blur. The live images of a
plane flying into the World Trade Center and of people falling through the sky
like ants forever scarred on my brain.
It has been 11 years to
the day. People 'explained' what happened and we went to war over
it. Thousands of men and women died in that war.
To this day there are
conspiracy theories and correlations of the date September 11th that hint
at a bigger scheme so on and so forth. Heck- there are theories about the
theories. I did not sit down to write about that today.
I am compelled to write today about what really happened
eleven years ago.
People like you and I,
who go to work everyday and sit at a desk in front of a computer screen
for most of the day or all of it-people like us- were faced with a choice.
For many however, it was over in an instant.
A flash, a burning explosion.
But for some, caught
amidst the chaos and confusion between the first impact and the second, between
the second impact and the collapse, between the collapse and the hours of
darkness that followed, to them an opportunity was presented.
I would posit that on that
one day, 9/11/2001, if you could have a a google analytics read on the
individual acts of courage that occurred, that day would rank among the top
days in the history of our country. Up there with 12/7/1941, 6/6/1944,
and others.
I'm sure that every
soldier that has been in active duty and has looked death in the face, would
agree with me that the acts of valor, self sacrifice and courage that occurred
on Flights 175, 93, 11, and 77, and in both towers, were on par with their
greatest moments.
The stories we know are many, and the untold stories of
heroism must number more- but in each, the circumstances surrounding and
leading up to those fateful hours only serve to highlight what really happened
on that day.
People chose to give their lives to get others to safety.
Let us reflect and focus for even just a few moments this
day, on what we would do if we found ourselves facing a defining moment
like that.
Let us appreciate our fallen brothers and sisters,
mothers and fathers, sons and daughters-our collective family-and especially
those that in reaching back to save another, lost their lives.
“Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their
life for another.”
What Would You Do?
Stories of Heroism on 9/11:
1 comment:
The tragedy of 911 resulted in at least 3000 deaths in that one day. Lost were USA citizens, men, women and children intentionally killed by ones who hated our country.
I have 4 years of memories (1942 - 46) as I recall that some 60 million people died in WW2, the United States losing over 400,000 overseas, but not in our country. The loss of husbands and sons covered much of the world. Included were millions of others who were physically and psychologically damaged by the global conflict.
As a sailor aboard the USS General Weigel, we left Long Beach CA and after two weeks on sea landed in Manilla off shore to observe what the destruction of Manila was after the Japanese bombing and the US bombing to get it back. The destruction was destroyed houses left with no running water. It was pathetic and seemed it was demolished. A sad addition was Japanese savage treatment to the US soldiers and Filipinos who happened to be caught.
The US GI's got aboard for home. None of us knew what we were headed for as we sailed into a typhoon as we and the 5000 GI's thought we'd (and the ship) never make it through. I never wanted to see or be on a ship during a typhoon!
The General Weigel turned around about the time the Japanese surrendered. We were headed to Japan - Yokohama and Tokyo to pick up US Troops. Boy, were the GI's happy. The GI's were happy even if they were yellow from Malaria.
Two weeks later we sailed under the Golden Gate. The GI's and the sailors couldn't be in a better place to celebrate!
Love, Grandpa Smith
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