9/11 REMEMBERED

It has been ten years since the first jet crashed into the World Trade Center followed by three other horrific crashes that took thousands of lives. There are a few events in our lifetimes where each person knows exactly where they were when it happened. I was at home in my apartment in Stockton when Allen called to tell me to turn on the TV. I had just met Lou a few months before and Darrin was living in El Paso flying for a small cargo airline.

A decade later it still makes no sense and it still elicits tears and emotions to hear the individual stories. Countless people lost mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers and friends. Many policemen and firefighters surely knew that by entering the chaos of those burning buildings their lives would end on September 11, 2001. Those who survived are now being diagnosed with cancer from breathing all the toxic fumes. Families were changed forever - and our country was changed forever.

The Waterfall Memorial Ceremony honoring 9/11 heroes

A few years after 9/11, Lou and I visited Ground Zero. It was still rubble and big holes in the ground - an odd sight in the middle of Manhattan. We had lunch at a Burger King directly across from where the World Trade Center had stood. I wondered who was sitting where we were on September 11, 2001, eating their breakfast before heading to work when the first plane crashed into the tower? I doubt they could believe the magnitude of what they were witnessing.

Three years ago Lou and I stopped at the Memorial for Flight 93 in southern Pennsylvania. It was still just a makeshift monument honoring the men and women who chose to fight the terrorists and save countless lives while knowing theirs would end either way. It was one of the most sobering times of my life. Reading the names on the benches and looking out at the hole in the ground where the jet disintegrated into a million pieces as it hit the ground inverted, I could not wrap my brain around the horror they must have felt.

The Flight 93 Memorial that we visited - the field in back is where the plane crashed



Benches showed the name of everyone on the flight - visitors added things on the fences

The significance of some items is apparent, others we don't know

I could not stop thinking of my son who was on track to be an airline pilot at that time. One of the pilots on Flight 93 had attended San Jose State's aviation program just like Darrin. How did his mother learn of her son's fate? How did any of the mothers even begin to grasp what their heroic sons and daughters chose to do?

If there was any good that came out of that horrible act of terrorism, it is how literally everyone in our great country pulled together to emerge stronger and more determined to fight Al-Queda and all terrorism. I must admit that I rejoiced and cheered when President Obama announced this past year that we hunted down and killed Osama bin Laden.

Ten years later, as we honor all the incredible, amazing heros of that fateful day, it is my hope that we never let the terrorists win - be careful, smart and wary BUT go out and live your life accomplishing everything you want out of your time on earth. Travel the world, visit Ground Zero and the Flight 93 Memorial - and remember to thank God every day that you live in a world where such courage and bravery exists among ordinary people.