9-11 Reflections

It has been said that members of my parents generation will never forget where they were when they heard President Kennedy was shot.

And for my generation, it is the attack of September 11, 2001.

I was a Freshman in college at Black Hawk College's East Campus.  That morning, I took my very first college test in a U.S. History class.  Once the test was over, I went out to a commons area to prepare for my Speech class.  I had been sitting for a couple of minutes and opened up my book bag  when a woman walked in and said that a plane had hit the WTC and Pentagon, and another was headed for the White House.  I sat there, dumbstruck for a minute.  Not sure I had heard her right.  I packed my bag and proceeded to the student center where over 100 people were gathered around a 27" TV watching Aaron Brown on ABC with the towers burning over his shoulder.  Some people whispered quietly, but most were just silent.  As I stood there, I muttered under my breath "bin Laden."

That afternoon, the local newspaper editor took an eerie photo.  Jet trails.  7 of them.  In lines across the sky.  By that time of the day, there was only one plane in the air, Air Force One.  Bush was flying from Nebraska back to the East Coast and fly right over my town.



The only feelings I remember feeling that day are surprise that it happend, sorrow for those lost, and a deep burning anger against those who had perpetrated the heinousness.

And now, 8 years later, I am sitting here tonight, listening to Alan Jackson who did such an elegant job of containing the confusion I think we all experienced.  The History Channel is running video footage of the attack.  Tonight, I think it is affecting me more than it did 8 years ago.  Maybe it was shock on that day.  But it is also stirring my anger and resolve that we WILL prevail.  We MUST prevail.

But today is also a day for great celebration in my town. Another group of American Hero's returned from Afghanistan this morning.  They have been deployed for a year.  This is the second homecoming in just over 3 weeks.  And it is appropriate that tonight is also Homecoming at the high school.  There is local news coverage of the homecoming HERE, the coverage begins at 2:33.

It is because of hero's like these, that I can right this blog, and that we have gone over 2,900 days without another attack on our soil.

Baxter Black, the great American cowboy poet, really puts the right perspective on today and every single day.


Thanks to Michael Bane for the Baxter Black video.