I know within a few feet where I was on 9/11/2001. My company had enrolled me in a Franklin Covey Four Roles class being held at The New South facility in Birmingham. That was on a Tuesday. We had just taking a break when cell phones started ringing. The class of about fifteen people found a conference room with a TV and we all stood in stunned silence watching the horror unfold.
I don't know that I will ever be able to understand and comprehend what would motivate these attacks but those few hours changes us all....forever.
I remember following the attack, all aircraft was grounded and and for a number of days the skies were strangely silent.
I had become so used to the sound of aircraft overhead, even out in the country where I live, I routinely hear planes making their final descent into the Birmingham Airport. But that sound was a part of my life not unlike a cooing dove or crowing rooster. And I tune them out. But those days following 9/11 the absent of those routine sounds in the sky was eerie.
So this morning, I observed a moment of silence for all those who perished on that day.
Rick, You are so correct about 09/11/2001 being a date for remembering. There is so much about that day that all of us need to remember. When I start remembering I usually go to remembering unions. While most people these days can't say 'Union' without spitting, I remain proud to have been a union member for 31 years. I never shirked my duty to my company or my union.
ReplyDeleteWhen Ronald Reagan was president he took pride in breaking the back of the Air Traffic Controllers union. It was those non-union controllers in the hot seat that fateful day in 2001 when a little less indecision on their part might possibly have saved some lives. It is not my intention to bash those on duty at the screens that day. They probably did the best they could do. That is not what I remember so vividly from that day.
What I do remember is the NEW YORK CITY FIREMEN & POLICEMEN(Nearly all Union members) charging up into two doomed buildings to fight fires they knew they couldn't beat; charging without hesitation and indecision in an effort to save those in danger.
Yes, let us all remember things from that day. I will remember the Firemen & Policemen not just as union members, but as great American citizens.
Ken