Sunday, September 11, 2011

I Will Never Forget...


I can’t believe ten years ago our country was dramatically affected for the worse.  I’ll never forget watching the 2nd plane hit the 2nd tower live on TV and watching the towers fall.  I was training with a personal trainer at Gold’s Gym in Spanish Fork and was on the treadmill.  I just remember seeing that plane hit and I automatically hit the “stop” button on the treadmill.  I couldn’t believe that things like this would happen in our country.  Everyone around me had stopped as well and everyone was standing in the aerobic area watching.  At school that day the mood was very solemn.   I remember all the teachers just watching the news coverage on TV instead of having our regular classes.  I can’t imagine what all the family members of those that were lost were thinking at that time as well. 

One thing that really impressed me was how our country came together and we were united as one.  I’ve never seen such patriotism in my lifetime and it was really neat to see everyone rally together to support one another no matter what their relationship to the tragedy was. 

This summer I finally went to New York City for the first time and visited “Ground Zero”.  It was a month before the Visitor’s Center opened but it was neat to peek through the fence to see the work in progress.  I really thought it was quite a spiritual place.  I really could tell that it was a place of peace for many people including family and friends of those people who lost their lives.  I really enjoyed visiting the church across the street that housed a lot of rescue teams during the recovery efforts.  They had a lot of the banners, mementos, authority badges, pictures, and cards from people across the country.  It was neat to see it all.  













This morning I was waiting for church to start and decided to watch some of the Ten Year Memorial and opening of the visitor’s center.  They had several people read off the names of the people that lost their lives that day.  After they read off around 10 names, they would say the name of their loved one that died that day (spouse, parent, sibling, relative, etc.) and a message to them usually that they loved them and missed them.  It was a really touching tribute and I even got emotional on a couple of them.  The people that planned the event really did a great job with collecting pictures, names, and bringing all of the families together to the spot that changed their lives ten years ago. 

I’m grateful for our country and the freedom that I enjoy here.  I know our country isn’t perfect and sometimes the people that run our country aren’t the best, but we still have the assurance that we are free and we owe that to all the people that have fought for our freedom and continue to fight for our freedom.

God Bless America

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