Seven years ago today, I left home for work as the still-elated father of a week-old son (my wife celebrated Labor Day extremely literally.) Not thirty minutes later, my phone was ringing, my father calling me to tell me to find a tv to see what was happening in New York. I will never forget, not just the horror of the moment when we saw the planes flying into the Twin Towers, but also the sudden intense worry about the future of my children. What would this terrible attack, and the seeming randomness of it, mean for the life I was hoping to build for my family?
So much has happened since then, so many lives lost by our service men and women, the firefighters, law enforcement officers, emergency personnel, and private citizens, but our way of life has survived. I wondered then how our lives would change, knowing that things had changed in some ways forever.
I stood tonight with my children in front of the Historic Union County Courthouse, watching the dedication of a memorial to firefighters and emergency personnel who had died on duty in Monroe and Union County. We were able to walk downtown from our home, safely, and take part in this gathering, one of our rights under the Constitution to freely assemble. We honored the people who risk, and sometimes lose their lives, to protect us. The same people who won on September 11, who give me hope for the future of our country, and the people who have helped bring us safely thus far from 7 years ago to today. God Bless America, and thanks be to God for those who serve our country. As a father, I couldn't be more grateful.
