Ten Years Later

So, 10 years have gone by since the 9/11 attacks. . . . not sure what to say to that.

I know lots of folks are putting up tributes and talking about the heros of the day and such, so I won’t go there.




What I will do is tell you what has been on my mind. First I expect another attack. I don’t see this as an if, but a when. They will do it. May not be as big but they will do it. Be ready.

Second, I remember the kids. I was at work the day of the attacks and felt like I was living something out of a Tom Clancy novel as we watched it unfold. I didn’t notice that one of my department folks had gone home. . . . his brother who also worked at the company had been on flt 11. . . . .

It took a few days for the news to get around the company once it had been confirmed. See he was supposed to have gone to LA that Sunday but stayed home to catch his kids soccer game and grabbed the first flight out the next day. . . . 9/11/01. Fate I guess.

A month or so later there was a memorial service for him once they realized there would be no body found. The whole company went. I met his wife and kids, probably 8-10 years old at the time. Old enough to know dad was not coming back, but probably not old enough to understand why he was killed. Their family was from the Middle East, (not Saudi) so in some ways their own folks did this to them. . . .

Now every anniversary of the attacks the first think that hits me is how old the kids are now, and I wonder how they are doing. I left that company years ago and have no idea. By now they may be in college, or at least high school. I pray they are doing well.

My memories of the attack are only a few. We were scared, I left work in Boston as soon as we got the OK, I wanted to be out of the city not knowing what was next. Then a week or more with no airplanes in the sky. When you work in Boston and there are not airplanes in the sky it is a really weird feeling. You don’t hear them, you don’t see them. It is just wrong..

I always was a gun rights person and a believer in our Constitution and this just enforced that. I watched the sheep rush to give up our rights in the name of safety and I watched the government run out of control to “protect” us. . . Most of which I don’t think would pass Constitutional testing but we let them do it. And in doing so we let the terrorist win. With ever right we give up, every liberty we let them take away, ever extra power over us we give them we lose a bit more and they win. Yes we have damaged Al Qaeda but they are still here, and they have friends. Life goes on, and the fight is still going on unfortunately. . . .

So folks watch yourself around this anniversary. Hug your loved ones, thank the vets, and be ready for whatever they have planned next.