Never forget...and take a moment to remember - Granite Grok

Never forget…and take a moment to remember

bumped from its original posting of last year

We find ourselves, tomorrow, at the 9-year anniversary of the worst attack on our nation since Pearl Harbor.  The shock and surprise, pure terror as intended, was surreal, bitter, and sad.

I sat at my desk, working at home on a warm Tuesday morning, a Fall breeze blowing through the open window, sipping coffee.  A neighbor called, frantically telling me to "turn my TV on, now!".  I don’t think I moved from that television until after 3pm, when I moved to the upstairs television, so the kids couldn’t see what was going on.

Not knowing exactly what was going on, or what would happen next, made the terror even more palpable.  It felt, for a little while, particularly after the Pentagon was attacked, as though our whole country was about to be invaded.

Now, imagine you are in one of the towers, with the same disbelief and horror, plus the hot flames, smell of burning jet fuel, carpet and furniture, screaming strangers, and the fear that you may not get out of the building alive today.  Worse, imagine you are trapped on a floor filled with searing smoke, and have nowhere to go but to the windows.

I will warn you that the following video is emotional, and somewhat graphic, but very, very real.  It brings back some of the terror, through the reactions of the people taking the video, and of the video itself.  We’ve seen the planes fly into the buildings, many times, and we’ve seen the towers come down.  It isn’t often that we see the jumpers.  Please do not accuse me of being gratuitous – I have no such intention.  My intention is to re-experience the tangible apprehension and the sorrow we all experienced that day. This video accomplishes that.

Why remember?  Because there are many in our country that choose to question why we challenge an encroaching Islam, the building of certain Mosques, or military action in foreign lands.  Maybe they’ve forgotten the terror, or, perhaps they choose, ideologically, to refute the terror.  Who knows?  If some of us are able to re-visit the intense feelings of 9/11/2001, we keep our motivation alive; to fight for what is right.  The people who suffered, or died in this terrible tragedy, deserve this.

RIP, Chris Zarba 9/11/2001

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