“It’s cold in the desert, water never sees the ground, special unspoken without sound”

This weekend the country will take pause and remember the events of September 11, 2001. As a nation, we have experienced a lot since that normal morning turned to horror in the span of 102 minutes. There are many different types of impacts that took place that morning, 4 airplanes impacted a structure or the earth, 2 towers that symbolize power, freedom, greed, oppression, everything that is good to some and everything they hate to others impacted the ground, as did 1 section of a building that symbolizes safety and security to some and hatred or tyranny to others. Nearly 3,000 mothers, fathers, uncles, friends, sons, daughters were lost impacting thousands of communities all over the country and more than half of them were never recovered making it difficult to move on.

Of course, I remember where I was just like everybody else remembers. I was in the car on my way to the University of South Florida for a communications in film class. I had a presentation to give on the different interpersonal relationships in the movie Shrek (tough stuff). I sat in the parking lot listening to Bubba the Love Sponge on 98 Rock and he said that a plane had hit a tower in NYC. Just as I parked the whole studio started screaming, “Was that a repeat, was that live…did that just happen…was that a second plane?” Then one of the cast, Brent Hatley said, “that was a second plane, we are under attack, and it’s Usama Bin Laden…” I ran in to class to watch it on TV but they did not have one so I left and went to the library and watched in horror at what was happening. When the first tower fell they closed USF and I had to leave the library. When I came outside there was a massive gathering of Muslim students in front of the library and it was interesting to see the contrast of students coming out of the library shocked and scared and the Muslim students smiling and cheering. I worked for 98 Rock at the time and went in the next day to help organize a blood drive and I told Bubba about what I saw and he put it out over the radio and USF officials immediately called in and contradicted that story but I know what I saw and it really pissed me off. That was the impact on me. I walked into the Air Force ROTC office 1 week later and was Commissioned as a Second Lieutenant 8 months later.

That day had a tremendous impact on me and gave me focus. I was an average student (at best) and was in my senior year of college with no plan for my future career. Had it not been for that day I would probably be a mid-level manager in some mid-level company just scraping by. Instead, I threw myself into being the best Aircraft Maintenance Officer I could be. I lost weight, got in shape, had access to some of the finest leaders in this country and I learned from them. I stayed in school and for the first time in my entire life, I got straight A’s in pursuit of my Masters Degree. I got to live in Las Vegas, NV, Sumter, SC, and Ogden, UT and I got to be in charge of some of the most fun Squadron’s in the AF. It turns out I spent 6 weeks about 600 miles away from Usama Bin Laden, which is closer than most people ever got! I truly enjoyed the majority of the time I spent in the military and am very proud of my service.

Since September 11, 2001 over 10 Million Americans have worn a uniform in support of this country, something we can all be proud of. I volunteered to get out in 2008 and started a chapter in my life that I am equally focused on, being a good husband and dad, something I never even though of 10 years ago, my how time flies!

The country has gone through many changes as well. The attacks really brought out the best in Americans. Neighbors chipped in and helped each other clean up, dig out, grieve, understand, and cope. Flags and other patriotic symbols could be seen from sea to shinning sea. If you have time watch the documentary “9 Innings from Ground Zero,” it does a fantastic job of going over the timeline and emotions, and when W. fires the ball from the top of the mound for a strike I get goosebumps every time!!

I find it interesting that in 2001 if you had a cell phone it was a brick and if you sent text messages you were about 3 years ahead of your time. There was no Facebook, no Twitter, no blogs or smartphones. Think about all of the things that would have been different if we had these “tools”. Word could have spread much faster, status updates could let everybody know who was safe and who was in trouble. Twitter proved during the this years earthquake in the northeast that it could spread news faster than the earthquake could travel. But I also think that the ‘tools” would have taken away from that healing process after the attacks, when you had to look at the devastation and the looks of horror on your neighbors face instead of looking down at your phone.

Pauly had to talk to his daughter today about what September 11 was. I could not imagine having to sum it up into a few minutes (if you get even that long). Almost 3,000 people died in about 2 hours, since then the man that inspired it has been killed, along with tens of thousands of military personnel and a shit ton of asshole IED using, no courage having, shooting from a distance murderers. Our country has spent hundreds of billions, other countries have lost people and treasure, Afghanistan has lost lots of big rocks but gained many small ones and I guess they still have goats and opium. Iraq lost a dictator and gained some good things in the bargain and there you have it, 10 years has gone by. I am not getting political, I am just saying it is tough to explain to a kid so Pauly, let me know how that goes!

I guess when the time comes I will just say it like it is. Parker, some people in this world have a fundamental difference with others and that leads to hatred. When that hatred is strong enough it turns to violence. On September 11, 2001 that hatred lead to a real sucker punch that killed almost 3,000 people. Americans did what we always do, we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and cleaned up the mess and then took the fight to those that perpetrated the violence and the people that harbored them (she will have a very good vocabulary). In the end, we did our best to protect freedom and the innocent while at the same time bringing the terrorists to justice.

10 years later the 9-11 memorial will finally open and give families a place to honor and remember the victims of that terrible day. I saw a documentary yesterday that focuses on that memorial and it is amazing. The fountains that lead into the basement of the footprints and the park are just amazing. However, the most amazing part of the whole rebuilding effort to me is the wedge of light. The architect designed the buildings and the train station in such a way that on 9-11 every year, the sun will bath the memorial in light with out shadows from the exact minute the first plane hit the first tower until the exact minute that the second tower fell. At the exact moment the second tower fell the sun’s rays will shine through the glass ceiling of the train station and bisect the floor perfectly. The folks that attacked us live in mud huts. They could never ever design something so perfect so how in the world can they think that they can destroy it?