September 11th, 2008

To those that lost their lives 7 years ago, today in the Twin Towers, in the Pentagon, on Flight 93 -- we will never forget. To the firefighters and other emergency personal that willingly gave their lives, after making phone calls home to their families, we thank you. To the men and women that answered the call and deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and other places unknown to the American citizens, we are grateful.

I am at a loss for words, as tears stream down my cheeks. We all know where we were when we heard what was happening that day. We should remember that day as if it were yesterday. I especially remember the anger, the rage, the pure hatred that I felt when they confirmed that this evil was attacking our innocents, simply because they were American. Because we are AMERICAN, you hate us?!

My husband sent me this essay awhile ago...
It was a response (by an Aussie mind you) to an add in a Pakistan national newspaper, offering a monetary reward to anyone who killed an "American".

An American is English, French, Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.
An American may also be Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Australian, Iranian, Asian, Arab, Pakistani, or Afghan.
An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navajo, Apache, or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.
An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, Buddhist, or Muslim.
In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.
An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each man and woman to the pursuit of happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country.
As of the morning of September11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan. The best products, the best books, the best music, the best food, the best athletes.
Americans welcome the best, but they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed.
These in fact are the people who built America.
Some of them were working in the Twin Towers on the morning of September 11, earning a better life for their families.
I've been told that the people in the Towers were from at least 30, and may be many more, other countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and every bloodthirsty tyrant in the history of the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself.
Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.
So look around you. You may find more Americans in your land than you thought were there. One day they will rise up and overthrow the old, ignorant, tired tyrants that trouble too many lands. Then those lands, too, will join the community of free and prosperous nations.
And America will welcome them!




I sob every single time that I read those words. I am so grateful to be an American, To be from the United States of America.
I look to my grandparents, and all that they survived throughout their lives... The Great Depression (my grandmother had 12 brothers and sisters, during a time when it was damn near impossible to feed a family of three), my Grandfather landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day and continued to fight for this country's freedom through several more European campaigns - including The Battle of the Bulge where he earned his Silver Star. He did all of this while my Grandmother was at home, raising their son, whom he had never met. When he did finally make it home, at the whopping age of 22 a decorated war hero, he was met at the door by a two and a half year old whom he had never laid eyes on.




And, every single time I bring up politics, or the economy with my Grandmother she puts it in perspective....
"Shannon, when I was your age -- I was working at Lockheed Martin, your Pop-Pop had just come home from the war, and we were so damn grateful that we could feed our family, and had a roof over our head that nothing else mattered. Your generation is God Damn spoiled."

And, it's true. It took something like September 11th, for us to realize just how precious our freedom really is and remind us that we need to be willing to defend it, and protect it. And, here 7 short years later, and there are people that have forgotten. The people that lost, and gave their lives that day and in the months that have followed deserve for the American people to stand up and say -- "We will never forget."

I never will.