What were you doing when you first heard about the attacks on America 10 years ago?
We were woken up by our high schoolers, "Dad, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon's on fire." That set our day into motion. We had planned that day to move our daughter into her apartment, as this was her 18th birthday.
Getting the boys to school, listening to news reports, I heard about Tower 2 collapsing. Rushing to get home, calling my headquarters in NYC to find out if some friends were safe. Thankfully, our company lost nobody, nor relatives in the attacks, though at the time, we didn't know for sure. Our management watched the events unfold from their office windows uptown.
We did make the move for our daughter, the first thing we did was plug in a television so we could keep up to date.
How did the day's events affect you? What were you doing that day?
Thank you to ALL the first responders and our military. We have been kept safe, after going to war with Al-Qaeda. Keeping them off balance and killing their leaders. We were not cowed by terrorists and have taken the fight to them.
GOD BLESS AMERICA
God bless America. We need it now more than ever. 10 years later and we are about to turn over our land, give away our local community sovereign rights and allow a funder of terrorism to run a tax-exempt, un-audited casino using an Indian tribe front group. They will take hundreds of millions in cash out of the country to fund extremist groups who seek us harm. They will bankrupt the Native American tribe who serve as their beard and leave them with billions in debt. All in the name of jobs and an ancestral right to run gaming operations - insanity reigns. http://wampaleaks.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteWRITTEN BY THE WIFE OF SMOKEYBEAR
ReplyDeleteODE TO UNITED FLIGHT NINETY THREE
.by Renee Mong on Sunday, September 11, 2011 at 1:56pm
WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ IS A SPEECH I WROTE AS PART OF A MEMORIAL
SERVICE GIVEN BY THE CITY OF FONTANA, CALIFORNIA ON 09-11-02 TO COMMEM-
ORATE THE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THAT TRAGIC DAY TEN YEARS AGO.
I HAVE ALWAYS BELIEVED THAT AMERICANS CAN TAKE THE DEEPEST TRAGEDY
AND TURN IT INTO THEIR GREATEST TRIUMPH AND I HAVE LONG WISHED THAT
I COULD SPEAK TO THE FAMILIES AND FRIENDS OF THOSE BRAVE AMERICANS
ON FLIGHT NINETY THREE TO TELL THEM . . . . . TO TELL THEM . . . . .
WELL, MAYBE WHEN YOU READ THIS , YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHAT I WOULD
SAY.
ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A LITTLE GIRL WHO
FLEW WITH SUPERMAN EVERY WEEKDAY;
RODE WITH THE LONE RANGER EVERY SATURDAY;
AND TALKED WITH GOD EVERY SUNDAY.
SHE GREW UP BELIEVING THAT
RIGHT MAKES MIGHT -
THAT WE SHOULD ALWAYS FIGHT FOR THE UNDERDOG -
AND THAT LOVE CONQUERS ALL . . .
SO WHEN THEY KILLED HER PRESIDENT;
SHE CRIED . . .
BUT SHE STILL BELIEVED.
AND WHEN THEY SENT HER BROTHERS ANS SWEETHEARTS
OFF TO FIGHT A WAR NO ONE UNDERSTOOD;
SHE WONDERED . . .
BUT SHE STILL BELIEVED.
EVEN WHEN SHE LEARNED NEW WORDS LIKE
WATERGATE . . . AND . . . DEEP THROAT;
HER HEART GREW TIRED . . .
BUT SHE STILL BELIEVED.
THE TIME FINALLY CAME WHEN SHE BEGAN TO RAISE A FAMILY OF HER OWN.
SHE TRIED TO TEACH THEM ALL THE THINGS SHE BELIEVED IN.
BUT DRUGS AND HATE CRIMES AND DRIVE BY SHOOTINGS SEEMED TO DROWN OUT
THE SIMPLE WORDS OF HOPE SHE KEPT WHISPERING IN HER CHILDRENS' EARS.
SOMETIMES, SHE FELT LIKE SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO HELD THESE BELIEFS DEAR.
FOR A WHILE, SHE EVEN THOUGHT OF GIVING UP . . .
WONDERING IF SHE WERE A FOOL . . .
SHOULD SHE PUT AWAY HER CHILDISH BELIEFS WITH ALL THE OTHER FAIRY TALES SHE'D OUTGROWN?
AND THEN IT HAPPENED . . . . . .
AN EVIL SO UNSPEAKABLE
SHE HAD TO SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT!
A TRAGEDY SO UNBEARABLE
IT TOOK AN ENTIRE NATION TO BEAR IT!
AND FINALLY . . . . . .
ACTIONS SO COURAGEOUS
IT GAVE HER THE COURAGE TO BELIEVE AGAIN!!!
NOW . . . NOT EVERYTIME . . . BUT OCCASSIONALLY,
WHEN SHE LOOKS UP AND SEES A PLANE OVERHEAD,
SHE'S REMINDED OF THOSE BURNING TOWERS
AND THAT UNDENIABLE THREAT TO HER BELIEFS.
BUT, MOST OF ALL,
SHE IS REMINDED OF THE HEROIC LEGACY LEFT BY FLIGHT NINETY THREE'S
PILOT , CO-PILOT , 5 CREW MEMBERS AND 33 PASSENGERS
WHO SAID WITH THEIR DYING BREATH . . .
WE BELIEVE!!!!!
THANK YOU, FLIGHT NINETY THREE, FOR TURNING THE UNBEARABLE TRAGEDY INTO THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH!!!
SINCERELY,
RENEE MONG
.
Thank you Renee, that is well written and beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI wrote a post a few minutes ago right underneath yours but it is gone, I don't know where it went to? For a moment it actually posted and then it was gone...WEIRD