Sunday, September 11, 2011: Good Morning Sam. Today is the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States. I can’t believe it’s been 10-years already. I wonder what your history books will say about September 11, 2001. It’s one of those days where we will always know what we were doing when we heard the news about what was going on. My father had been trying to call me. When he finally got me on the phone, he asked me over and over if I was OK. After reassuring him I was, all he said was “turn on the TV”. Every channel had it on – one of the Twin Towers on fire. Then out of nowhere a jet airplane flew right by the news helicopter and into the other Twin Tower. It’s hard to describe the visual. By the time I was watching this, the planes crashing into the buildings and their subsequent collapse had already happened. We are 3-hours behind New York. Still, the images were haunting. I remember leaving the TV on and not sleeping for 3-days. Holding out hope first responders would find anyone alive. They found nothing.
Normally those buildings had 50,000 people working in them. We lost close to 3,000 people that day, a miracle in and of itself. Had the terrorists waited an hour longer, the stock exchange would have been open and in full swing. Thousands more would have been lost for sure. The police and fire departments did an amazing job saving people’s lives. It would have been a lot worse without their courageous actions.
At the time, it felt like a good idea to record these events. I have hours and hours of video from that day. It’s good for those of us who were alive then to never forget. For you, it’s a testament to the hearts of Americans in the face of pure evil. You may remember when I mentioned Osama bin Laden’s assassination a few months ago. He was behind September 11th. Nobody raised much of a stink about how we eradicated him from the planet. I hope to God you will never see a day like that in your lifetime Sam. I LOVE YOU!
