9/11 We Remember

[thedrifter]

9/11 WE REMEMBER



Ellie

[SupChf]

Amen to that Drifter. We were just talking about this at work today. I only heard a brief snippit on CNN about the different memorial services taking place today. Nothing else on the radio, other t.v. stations or anything. It seems that America is beginning to forget what we all have promise not to!!

[Wyoming]

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Amen


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[1Marine4Life]

We should never forget something so important. The days following 9/11 were trying times in this country. 9/11 itself was a disasterous day for us. We should remember so that we don't allow it to happen again.

[ecfree]

Amen to that Drifter. We were just talking about this at work today. I only heard a brief snippit on CNN about the different memorial services taking place today. Nothing else on the radio, other t.v. stations or anything. It seems that America is beginning to forget what we all have promise not to!!

Memorials going on this very moment at "Ground Zero" N.Y.,The Pentagon,and in Pennsylvania.also TV & radio went silent the minute the first plane hit the Twins.
WE WILL NEVER FORGET....

[thedrifter]

Also here in Jacksonville, NC....

Ellie

[ScottsMom]

My step-father (a Marine in the 70s) worked in the Pentagon on 911. He was awarded the Medal of Valor for his help in rescuing people from the Pentagon. He and everyone who was affected will be in my thoughts today as this is a very, very hard day for him. I'm very proud that he is part of my family.

[ggyoung]

God Bless

[yellowwing]

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

[Moules]

Thank you to all those who have sacrificed and even gave the ultimate sacrifice for this country and who have pledged to serve and defend this great nation we live in... Without the ones who went before me and paved the way I wouldnt have this great nation or my wonderful Corps to serve in.........Thank you

[mrbsox]

This was OUR generations 'PEARL HARBOR'.

And what has 'this' generation done with it (as a whole) ?? The apathy makes my blood boil.

1st; it was SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH.... not 9-11.
We don't refer to Pearl Harbor as 12-7.
As Marines, we don't refer to Beirut as 10-23.

I WILL NOT fall into the generic hyphenated call of 'nine-eleven'. It's as if the people of this land have passed it off as just something else to be in the history books, in school. The brevity of it, because it's easier to say, or so distant form their minds.

I REMEMBER SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH !!

2nd; How many flags were sold in the weeks and months after September Eleventh ?? And where are they today ?? Destined to the gloom of a hall closet until some 'special' day brings her back to the light ?? I'm ashamed of the way my country, in general, chooses to brush it off as just another day.

One of the girls in the office, this morning, asked why I was wearing my (Uncle Sam) hat. "PATRIOTS DAY, SEPTEMBER ELEVENTH, SHOWING THE RED WHITE AND BLUE."

'What's Patriots day ??? I never heard of it'
I kept my steam contained, and reminded her that it is the 7th anniversary of September Eleventh.
'OH...... I never knew it was called Patriots Day.'

[Bruce59]

It's hard for me to watch the attack on TV today. when the frist plane hit I new it was an attack.

[thedrifter]

WTC tribute ~ with Enya music

http://www.pentagonattack911.com/wtc.htm

Anyone ever wonder what the lyrics are to Enya's "Only Time"
that is played in the background of some 9/11 memorials online,
such as in this excellent tribute(above) :

Who can say where the road goes
Where the day flows, only time
And who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose, only time

Who can say why your heart sighs
As your love flies, only time
And who can say why your heart cries
When your love lies, only time

Who can say when the roads meet
That love might be in your heart
And who can say when the day sleeps
If the night keeps all your heart
Night keeps all your heart

Who can say if your love grows
As your heart chose
- Only time
And who can say where the road goes
Where the day flows, only time

Who knows? Only time

Ellie

[Phantom Winger]

It's my job to have something to say.

They pay me to provide words that help make sense of that which troubles the American soul. But in this moment of airless shock when hot tears sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing I can find to say, the only words that seem to fit, must be addressed to the unknown author of this suffering.


You monster! You beast! You unspeakable bastard!


What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed.


Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause.


Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve.


Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together.


Let me tell you about my people. We are a vast and quarrelsome family, a family rent by racial, social, political and class division, but a family nonetheless. We're frivolous, yes, capable of expending tremendous emotional energy on pop cultural minutiae -- a singer's revealing dress, a ball team's misfortune, a cartoon mouse. We're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready availability of trinkets and material goods, and maybe because of that, we walk through life with a certain sense of blithe entitlement.
We are fundamentally decent, though -- peace-loving and compassionate. We struggle to know the right thing and to do it. And we are, the overwhelming majority of us, people of faith, believers in a just and loving God.


Some people -- you, perhaps -- think that any or all of this makes us weak. You're mistaken. We are not weak. Indeed, we are strong in ways that cannot be measured by arsenals.


IN PAIN
Yes, we're in pain now. We are in mourning and we are in shock. We're still grappling with the unreality of the awful thing you did, still working to make ourselves understand that this isn't a special effect from some Hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot development from a Tom Clancy novel. Both in terms of the awful scope of their ambition and the probable final death toll, your attacks are likely to go down as the worst acts of terrorism in the history of the United States and, probably, the history of the world. You've bloodied us as we have never been bloodied before.


But there's a gulf of difference between making us bloody and making us fall. This is the lesson Japan was taught to its bitter sorrow the last time anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone brought us such abrupt and monumental pain. When roused, we are righteous in our outrage, terrible in our force. When provoked by this level of barbarism, we will bear any suffering, pay any cost, go to any length, in the pursuit of justice.


I tell you this without fear of contradiction. I know my people, as you, I think, do not. What I know reassures me. It also causes me to tremble with dread of the future.


In the days to come, there will be recrimination and accusation, fingers pointing to determine whose failure allowed this to happen and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. There will be heightened security, misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms. We'll go forward from this moment sobered, chastened, sad. But determined, too. Unimaginably determined.


THE STEEL IN US
You see, the steel in us is not always readily apparent. That aspect of our character is seldom understood by people who don't know us well. On this day, the family's bickering is put on hold.


As Americans we will weep, as Americans we will mourn, and as Americans, we will rise in defense of all that we cherish.


So I ask again: What was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started.


But you're about to learn.


by columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., for The Miami Herald, Published Wednesday, September 12, 2001

[MrsCodyMC]

This is from the I MEF Commanding General, Forward. My husband sent it to me this morning from Iraq, and I thought some of you might like to read it...



9-11.pdf