Comment from: nikki [Visitor]
nikki

I love you. And thank you for your service. I’m shedding tears with you hunny. Again.

09/11/10 @ 13:12
Comment from: Becky [Visitor]
Becky

We had moved to Hawaii just two months prior. TK was stationed at a joint assignment at Pearl Harbor, although he was Air Force.

The phone woke us up early, about 5 am, I think. We were 5-6 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone; I can never remember which, because it varies by Daylight Savings Time, which Hawaii does not observe.

TK put down the phone and turned on the news. We watched in horrified silence. Then he quickly put on his uniform and left.

After the kids went to school, I was by myself, because I hadn’t found a job yet. I remember Jamie coming over because her school was on break, and Mary had classes. She didn’t want to be alone, and I didn’t either.

I remember the eerie silence from no planes flying over. At.All. In the weeks following, we walked down Waikiki beach and it was like a deserted island, but not in a fun way.

Then I remembered the nightmare I’d had the very day before 9/11. It was actually during the day, on the rare occasion of a nap. I dreamed I was laying next to someone on a bed, completely covered by a sheet so that I could not see, and someone was shooting us with a machine gun. I couldn’t see who it was, I didn’t know why they were attacking me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it, nor to warn the person next to me. I woke up startled and extremely disturbed, and immediately went to find all of my family to make sure they were okay.

Life is precious. Liberty is rare. Thank you for serving to protect both.


09/11/10 @ 16:11
Comment from: Steve Schlicht [Visitor]  
Steve Schlicht

Nine years ago, the evil of extremist, hate-filled anarchy swept into America’s skies as religious terrorists murdered loving families, men, women and children inspired by the intentional dark depths of a barbaric anti-humanistic dogma.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, were the worst assault on American land in the country’s history and on the global ideals of peace, liberty and human rights which also, even more importantly, put these very ideals to the test.

On that fateful day I can remember exactly where I was…driving across the Popps Ferry Bridge heading home from the midnight shift tour at the police department while listening to two DJs laughing about some idiot who crashed a small airplane into one of the Twin Towers in New York. As I passed by the entrance to the Fire Station at Riverview Drive, I recall the slow shift in the tone of their amused credulity as it became known that it was a fully loaded jet liner, that the building was on fire and that people were dying.

As thoughts of disbelief were racing around in my head, I unlocked my front door and walked into the living room where Granny JoJo was already watching the news. I remember the surreal scene from the helicopter showing the billowing smoke and the swirl of activity below being slowly absorbed into my brain. I kept thinking, rather naively in hindsight, that the fire would soon be out and a complete explanation from the Mayor would forthcoming in a couple of hours.

Then, on live television, I saw another plane slam into the second tower sending flame and debris out the other side. The next few hours I found myself entranced by what I saw as the announcers echoed the same disbelief at what we all were watching.

The rest, in my mind, is endless footage of people covered in gray soot, fire fighters barely escaping the debris as the first tower fell…and then the second just seemed to melt away back into the ground. The reports were repeated so many times that I became unsure which I was watching anymore until someone began reporting something about another missing plane and that the Pentagon was on fire.

The concept of the intensity and full capacity of such a plan made me physically sick as I realized we were all witnessing yet another historical marker by which to assign human despair and the lowest depths to which another being could reach through blind obedience to selfishness and fear.

After all was said and done many, many months later, it was discovered that more than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the “missing” jet had crashed into a field that day.

While certainly an American tragedy, it was also a tragedy for the entire human family.

In all, nearly 3,000 people were killed, including 60 police officers and 343 firefighters who responded to the call in New York City as I watched from the security of our family home, my newborn son, Connor sleeping peacefully through it all.

Nine years on, it is important for me to express to everyone who holds our human existence as something wondrously rare, special and to be continually cared for and protected that we must never forget what hate, fear and ignorance bring upon all of our lives regardless of race, creed, faith, philosophy, gender, political affiliation, age or nationality.

If we love life, then we must feel compelled to take a moment to honor this day, September 11, to solemnly remember those who were taken from us and to then take our most heartfelt and sincere oath that we will not only endure through these events but we will prevail for the greater good over those who would seek to destroy this inherent love of life with these nihilistic ideologies of horror and hate and unbridled fear of others different from them.

Y’all take care of each other and be safe.

Steve Schlicht
Biloxi MS

PS Thanks, d, for everything.

09/11/10 @ 20:45
Comment from: Aunt Bann [Visitor]
Aunt Bann

Diana, I, too, had no idea what was happening. I was actually playing on my computer when your Uncle Dale called and told me to turn my television on. Then he said these words: “We’re at War!” I couldn’t believe it, and when I went to see, I could see why someone could possibly immediately have that thought. I spent the rest of the day in front of the television, watching the towers fall, seeing the White House being in danger, and seeing the other plane being brought to the ground by the people who had fought back.

I didn’t think of my family, who might be having to go to war; I was thinking of our country and what all the terrorist attempt meant to us all. I, too, once more say, and it is heartfelt: THANK YOU for serving!!!

09/11/10 @ 22:03
Comment from: diana [Member]

Thank you all for sharing, and again, you’re welcome. Steve, thank you for serving. I consider what you do far more important than what I do, and immeasurably more demanding.

To my readers, Steve is not only an amazing writer and public servant (as you can see), but he is a dedicated community volunteer. He is the organizer of The Great Southern Humanist Society, dedicated to promoting a positive view of humanity and humanism itself, and of organizing/volunteering for community outreach programs.

Here’s a piece he wrote in the wake of Katrina. Well worth the read. He is an example to us all.

d

09/12/10 @ 10:34


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