Few
events in our history have so affected us that we remember them and relive them
our entire lives.
None
of us were around on April 19, 1775, but I can imagine that a whole generation
asked each other, “Where were you when Major Buttrick shouted, “For God’s sake!
FIRE!” and that shot was heard around the world, ultimately changing the course
of history forever.
My
mamma and daddy could tell me exactly where they were on December 7, 1941, a
“date that does live in infamy”.
Some
of us still ask, “Where were you when President Kennedy was assassinated?”
I
was a teenager, it was Fall of my senior year, and I was in art class at
Woodlawn High School.
On
June 11, 1963, Governor George Wallace had stood on the steps of Foster
Auditorium at the University of Alabama and declared, “Segregation now.
Segregation forever.” It would come to be known as the “Stand in the
Schoolhouse door” That footage became so
well-known made it into the movie Forest Gump.
In
Birmingham, we had survived the “Long Hot Summer of ‘63”, with firehoses and
police dogs versus peaceful demonstrators on the streets of downtown. A time
that would be replayed over and over on national TV for 50 years.
On
August 28, 1963, a quarter of a million people marched on Washington D.C., and
they were calmed by Reverend Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech – a
presentation that will be repeated so often it is more recognizable than the
Gettysburg address.
We
had already been horrified on September 15, when the 16th Street
Baptist Church was bombed, killing 4 little girls attending Sunday School. I
remember where I was and who I was with when that news was received moments
after it happened.
So
we wondered what the hell else could happen? could It possible get any worse?
1963 said, “Here. Hold my beer.”
On
November 22, 1963, one deadly shot in Dallas, TX horrified our nation, and the
world. For a time, we were no longer Republicans or Democrats, but Americans - UNIFIED
in grief. John F. Kennedy was President of the United States. That’s ALL of us.
Nobody said, “The Democrats lost their President.”
The
next 40 or so years, though, were painful on many issues. Black vs white, North
vs South… we were still fighting the War Between the States, Marines vs the
rest of the military, Vietnam, Gulf War, Somolia, Panama, and on and on, until
September
11, 2001.
Where
were you on Sept 11, 2001 at 7:46am Central time? When American Airlines Flight
11 crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center? If you were born before about 1991 (the year
of Desert Storm), you probably can remember exactly where you were.
By
9:07am, an hour and 15 minutes later, when United flight 93 crashed In
Pennsylvania, I know where you were, and what you were doing. You were glued to
a television somewhere. You were shocked, angry, and feeling confused and
helpless.
You
watched in anguish as the Twin towers fell again and again, and the Pentagon
exploded. You watched first responders rush through noxious smog into barely
visible black holes into crumbling buildings, and people leapt to their deaths
from dozens of stories up to escape death by fire. Maybe you wept. Maybe you
prayed.
Unless
you lived and worked in NYC. Unless you were a first responder in the area.
There was no time for weeping or anger. For them, there was only FOCUS.
Of
the almost 3000 citizens who perished that day, over 400 were first responders,
most of those were firefighters, and ALL of them were true heroes.
My
pastor says the church isn’t the building. The church is the people. Its symbol
is a cross. Likewise, the United States isn’t the Twin Towers or the Pentagon.
The United States is the people. Our symbol is our flag. None of the heroes of
9/11 rushed into the Twin Towers to save a building. Their purpose was to
rescue PEOPLE.
In
my heart, I KNOW most of them realized that rushing into the mouth of hell that
day could most likely be their last action on this earth. I believe most of
them knowingly sacrificed all their tomorrows so that somebody’s mother or
father, or somebody’s son or daughter could have a TODAY.
The
Bible tells us “Greater love hath no man
than this: that he lay down his life for
his friends.”
Except
maybe that he lay down his life for a complete stranger?
In
the years after 9/11/2001, thousands of first responders suffered the effects
of the heat and breathing the toxic dust that day, and many would die from it
in a couple of years. By 2013, over 1400 first responders who had worked the
scene that day had died from the diagnosis “exposure to toxins at Ground Zero”.
By 2016, another 2100 firefighters had
retired on disability with World Trade Center-related illnesses, mostly lung
diseases and cancers. This brought the total count of “first Responder casualties”
to almost 4,000.
But
for a time after the attack on us on 9/11/2001, we ceased being Democrats or
Republicans, black or white, Christian or Jewish, rich or poor. Nobody cared if
you ate at Chic-fil-a or Ruth’s Chris.
For
a time, You remember. we were ALL Americans. We stood shoulder to shoulder, arm
in arm, suffering and grieving the same profound loss. American flag companies
sold out. There was hardly a car or a truck or a house that did not display an
American flag. What mattered was NOT
what divided us, but what UNITED us. It
was the greatest surge of patriotism in my lifetime.
Lest
they forget, it is VITAL that we teach our children and grandchildren the pride
and glory that being a patriotic America citizen feels like. That’s the real
importance of our annual 9/11 memorial services.
We
remember and celebrate the day the fires of patriotism burned the brightest,
and the day the American spirit could NOT be quenched. It is why we call
September 11 “Patriot Day”.
So
remember … Where were you on 9/11/2001?
and please… tell the story
