Patriot's Day

 

 

"Let us never, ever forget..."

When I was just a young boy, my parents would often recount two events they would never forget. In particular, the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the death of FDR. They were very hopeful that in my life, I would never go through the trauma they went though. I like most of us, in later years found out they were wrong, very wrong.

In late 2001, I was working at IBM and assigned to the American Express account in downtown Minneapolis. September 11 was no special day - just a beautiful Tuesday morning with the traffic being a bit less hectic than normal. As I usually did, I pulled into the parking ramp next to the account and was ready to shut off my car. Hold on - breaking news on the radio station! What was thought to be a small aircraft flew into the World Trade Center. My first thought was "Wow! How could anyone have missed such a big building!". Not thinking much more, I turned off my car and headed into to the account.

Once into my cube, the phone rang. It was my daughter Amanda who was a student at St. Cloud State. "Dad! Did you see an aircraft flew into the World Trade Center?". I told her I knew about it and not to worry as it probably just a wayward Piper Cub or something. She said 'No Dad, they are saying it was a passenger jet!".

That was a punch in the solar plexus. I took a small radio out of my desk and started listening to the news feeds. Soon I had 10 to 15 people gathered outside my office. Next the unthinkable happened - a second aircraft flew into the second tower. I turned around and told those listening, "Folks, we are at war".

I gathered up my things and got ready to leave. I suggested to the others they do so also. By the time I got outside, all aircraft were ordered to be grounded. There was a steady flow of aircraft in the landing pattern for the MSP airport. As I watched each aircraft fly over the IDS Building, I thought, "Is this the next one to crash? Are there 100 aircraft or just 4?".

I drove as fast as I could legally drive to my folk's house in Robbinsdale. They were watching this carnage on their TV. By the time I got there, the first tower had fallen. Along with them we watched in horror as the second tower fell. I told them I had to leave and get to the school where my wife taught. I needed to get her home. The significance of the moment was starting to set in. Life as we knew it, was changing, and changing fast.

I know all us have separate and unique memories of that day. Patriot Day is a day to remember them and to share them. It was a day that shook this nation out of naivety and innocence to reality. War had come to our shores. Not conventional war, but a type of war that we had never seen before.

The world changed that day - our world changed. We changed. It is a day we will never forget. It is a day many of our fellow citizens burned to death, jumped to their deaths or were crushed to death. All for the crime of just going to work. That day, the cold warrior living within me became a hot warrior once again. I will never forget, I will always remember. Tomorrow is Patriot's Day. Least we never, ever forget...