9.11.01
It was an interesting day of reflection for me. No one I knew died on this tragic day a year ago but yet the community built by anger, fear, and love was enough to make any American proud. I never considered myself a proud American but today I stand before you a proud American. America is not perfect and has many problems but what is great about this country is that I can write about these problems and not be persecuted.
I had gone to work early that day and missed most of Pittsburgh’s rush hour traffic. As I arrived at my desk I began the usual routine of reading email and drinking a cup of coffee. Just as the day began I heard a girl who sat beside me say an airplane hit the World Trade Center. I marked it up as an accident and went to a web news organization to find out more. It never returned the homepage so I tried another, again nothing. About that time my cell phone rang, it was my parents calling to see if I had seen the news. They began telling me that a plane hit the pentagon and it was terrorist attacks. I quickly turned on my desk radio and began listening to NPR. I was in shock. This was the beginning of a day that continued to become more tragic every minute. I was a citizen that had missed the Cold War and Vietnam so I never felt venerable until that day. From that day forward I was determined to live my life to it’s fullest extent.
My wife boarded one of the few planes that flew today and I must admit that I was scared. I recall a story of a man who lost his young wife in the attack and how he came home that night and set in a chair and every emotion flooded him at once. He smelled her perfume and felt her presence in their home. As I came home this afternoon after dropping my wife off at the airport I sat in our home looking at everything that reminded me of her. As I looked around I noticed that everything in our home reminds me of her, every trinket has a story of us. How did this man survive such daily reminders? My heart goes out to him and all those who lost loved ones. This reflection has confirmed my great love for my wife and how every moment that I have with her I should cherish because it might be our last.