Note: I have been writing, in honor of Sara Low of my hometown, a blog post each year at our remembrance of 9/11. This will be the fourth year I have written this blog post. It is a testament to the strength of our country and, in particular, my hometown, Batesville, AR.
We have never forgotten, nor should we. The most infamous day in my lifetime, by a long ways. This is the newest generation’s “Do you remember where were?” moment, and it trumps the ones of my generation.
Flickr: Brandan Loy
I watched from what seemed like afar in my Fort Worth, TX apartment. It was the most surreal scene I had ever witnessed. I was watching ABC with the late Peter Jennings narrating. ABC put the best on the air to help us navigate what was going on. Just a week earlier I had had what I thought was the worst day of my life. It’s amazing what can happen in a week.
By the time I had gotten home from having breakfast with a friend, both towers had been hit. TV was simply showing the fallout from the attack and speculating about what had happened. While watching, the towers begin to fall before Jennings even noticed. I was aghast. I didn’t know what to say.
I thought it was far away from me, but I found out later that people I knew were directly involved. Sara Low, the little sister of a girl in my high school graduating class was a stewardess on one of the planes. I couldn’t believe what I heard and immediately had a heavy heart for the Low family, especially my classmate Alyson.
Tiny Batesville, AR where I was from, had been directly impacted and it was evident that this attack was more than an attack on New York City, the Pentagon or any other big cities. No, this was an attack on all Americans and all of us in the United States.
Partisanship still reigns in this country. Diversity is one of the things that makes us so great. We have folks from all different walks of life and perspectives. There are conservatives and liberals, whites and blacks, Asian Americans and Native Americans, Republicans and Democrats, rich and poor, various religions and no religions and different types of lifestyles. But the fact remains, we are all Americans.
And never before are we all Americans than on September 11th. This is the 10th Anniversary. Let’s reach across the aisle, let’s embrace one another and shake hands with someone not like us. Let’s be Americans.
That was what Sara and the thousands of other victims were doing on September 11, 2001. Let’s do that again. Let’s Remember!
We are all Americans!
