When I wrote this blog post nearly 12 years ago, I don’t think I fully comprehended how much our lives would change as the result of the attacks on September 11, 2001. I knew that there would be fighting, I knew more lives would be lost, but I don’t think I realized how much the United States would change as a result of what we had all just experienced. The 21st century, which represented a new age to many of us, was off to a rocky start and everything that we had hoped and dreamed it would be was apparently still off in the distant future.
But I don’t want to focus on that. I want to focus on the courage.
* The courage of those that refused to be scared
* The courage of the airline passengers that fought back on United Flight 93 and curtailed the terrorists from completing their mission
* The courage of those that ran through the flames, down the stairs, wherever through the chaos to safety
* The courage of the emergency responders that went running in the opposite direction of everyone else and went head first into chaos that we had never seen before
* The courage of the families that lost loved ones on 9/11 and in everything that has happened as a result of 9/11
* The courage of those that have volunteered for battle and have helped fight wars ever since that day
* The courage of the men and women who made the choice to leap from a place in those two towers of which there was no means of escape
* The courage of those who fought back against the flames and the destruction until their very last breath
* The courage of those who remember what the United States of America is really about and work everyday to defend her ideals
Courage is the foundation of the building of a hero. And in my book, you’re all heroes.
Thank you.
