Yes, I remember clearly this day 8 years ago. We were just waking up, Cam's mom was calling on the phone to turn on our TV, "something horrible is happening" she said. I rolled my 7 month pregnant body out of bed and flipped on the TV to find a video of a plane crashing into a tower in New York. "What's happening" I said to Cam as our 3 year old walks in the living room. "It looks like a plane crash" he said. But, we would soon find out it was so much more than a plane crash and that many American lives would be taken that day. Fathers, wives, husbands, children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, friends, mothers, grandparents were under attack. And no one could stop it. Not our military, not our president, not our country, not the republicans or the democrats. We had to sit and watch and wonder where the next one would hit. We had to sit helpless in our living rooms, in our cars, at our work, in our schools, in our homes targets to terrorists. To people who wanted us all dead. Yes, you and me and the unborn child I carried. They wanted us dead for no other reason than we were Americans. They hated us and they proved that hate on that day 8 years ago.
So, in typical American fashion this country sprang into action. There was no "wait and see". The military, fire departments, rescue personnel, doctors, nurses, political leaders, the government, our president took action to protect us, to assure us that we were safe. The rescues started and we watched people looking for family members. Firefighters pulling people from the wreckage, and people praying. I'm sure most of us at some point on September 11, 2001 dropped to our knees and prayed to our God to save us, to protect us, to guide us. These are the things that make America beautiful...the heroism, the ability to pull together as a nation under one flag for the good of the whole, the sacrifice even of life. This is what makes America beautiful that 8 years later, we have the freedom to talk bad about a president that made the best choices under so much stress and sprang into action after such a devastating tragedy. We have freedom to write, to speak, and to express ourselves.
I am proud to call myself an American and thank God that I was born on this soil and not on some foreign land where I could be beat if my ankles weren't covered up. I am proud that I live in a country where my daughters can be doctors, lawyers, teachers, anything they can imagine and do not have to fear being put to death if they decide to do so. I am proud to live in a country where I can choose my own religion and where I can worship my God openly without fear of persecution. I am proud of my father, of my cousin, of my uncles, of my friends who serve in a military that protects my freedom and the freedom and safety of those I love. So, today I say thank you to all those who make this country what it is and I pray we continue to remember and never forget!
