2012-366 Day 255 – September 11th

When I thought of a topic for today, I had forgotten what the next day was actually going to be. So that topic gets pushed back one more day so I can pay proper tribute to the day that changed everything.

I have mentioned my terrible memory in the past, but I will never forget that morning eleven years ago. Across the width of an entire continent, I could feel the terror and courage radiating through the images on the TV screen. I was still living with my parents at the time, and was woken shortly after the news of the first tower being hit was delivered. When I say that I don’t like to sleep because I’m afraid I’m missing something, this comes to mind, as I was asleep when our world fundamentally changed forever. I realize that with time zones and the timing of the flights that this was virtually inevitable, but I still feel slightly guilty for some reason. I suppose I really should consider that a blessing, however, because I did see the second plane hit, and both towers fall.

What I cannot begin to express, and what truly remains in my memory of that day, is how awe-inspiring and plentiful the heroism was that day. The fire fighters who went in to burning skyscrapers to save just one more, the police who had to manage the unmanageable, the military dealing with their own tragedy at the Pentagon but still getting the fighters in the air to settle an unsettled sky, and finally, most amazingly, the heroes on United Flight 93 which sacrificed themselves so that no one on the ground could be hurt by the evil that had taken their plane. These stories all echo through the past eleven years, so much so though that I hear them still at the mere mention of the date. And I mean the actual date “September 11th,” as, sadly, the numeric configuration 9/11 has been repeated so much in the intervening time frame for such disparate (and increasingly selfish) causes that it has lost its resonance with me. The date, however, still sends a spike into my heart, and hearing commercials for TV shows premiering on September 11th left a bad taste in my mouth.

This leaves me in the same place I was on Memorial Day, though slightly more focused, which is okay, because this kind of gratitude to our troops and first responders who put everything on the line for us should be repeated and can never be said enough. So thank you to everyone serving, at home or on foreign soil. Thank you to everyone who has served and made it back with the honored title of Veteran. And most especially, thank you to all of you who did serve at home or abroad and did not come back, who made the ultimate sacrifice in protecting others and their freedoms. Though many may try to politicize, commercialize, or use it to demonize, I am especially grateful that honoring these heroes and their spirit has become the enduring legacy of September 11th. We will never forget.

Weight: 227 Loss: 13 lbs – Running Yearly Mileage: 285.7 miles
Fitocracy Level: 25 ID: disciplev1