While I’ve often said I can find humor in anything, there is nothing humorous about what happened eleven years ago today—a time that has been tattooed in the memories of every American. Instead of taking such an egregious event and spinning up a moment of levity, I’d like to reflect on the many American lives changed forever in the span of an hour and forty-five minutes. I am an American and love my country. I love the freedoms I have, the comfort of choice and I will never forget where I was, what I was doing, who I was with and most importantly, the lives lost to such a hideous assault on my country. So in memory of the people on United Flights 93 and 175 and American Flights 11 and 77 along with the countless (and utterly unnecessary) losses from the Twin Towers and on their surrounding grounds, God Bless (yes, God bless) all of you. You are gone, but will never be forgotten.
My wife and I had flown out of JFK the day before and were “settling into” Our tour of Egypt when the terrorist attacks began. I think it was even more surreal for us, watching events unfold on TV in a foreign language, many miles from home. We learned that the US was not the only country affected by 9/11, as the Egyptians lost nearly a year of tourist revenue (which is a substantial part of their GDP) after these attacks.
How unfortunate for their tourism revenue losses Mike. I’m having difficulty with empathy for Egypt at present, however, in light of the course of events last evening…
Beautiful remembrance. I will never forget where and who I was with when the news horrified us. Feeling so broken and helpless, I gave blood that first day. All of our lives have been unquestionably changed forever. Here’s a shout out to all those four legged heroes who lent their keen sense of smell to help with the rescue of so many.