It doesn't seem like it's been a year. Then, again, maybe it does. One year ago today, the personality of America as a country changed. You go around thinking, "That'll never happen to me. To us." But it did. It happened to all of us, all across the country. Safety and security meant so little. We were afraid to go back to our lives, to move on.
On the bright side, that day renewed our sense of patriotism, of faith, of hope, of pride. We know that "freedom is not free", and we will no longer take for granted the opporutnities provided by our country.
We are prepared for another assault. Unfortunately, we weren't prepared then. So many questions had to be answered. Who is responsible for this? How did it slip past us? Where are the people who went missing that day, without a trace? What do we do now?
The events of September 11, 2001, have an eerie similarity to the events of another fateful day in United States history: December 7, 1941. The attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. We were not prepared then. Many lives were lost. America changed.
I hadn't been born when Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. I didn't experience the grief, pain, and sorrow that so many others did. December 7 is just another day to me. Will September 11 be that way to our children, their children? Will they ever know how much it affected us? Will they remember? We will help them to remember. We will not let them forget.
September 11, 2001. Lives lost, heroes made, patriotism found. We remember.
