September 19, 2001

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"A plane has just crashed into the "World Trade Center in New York."

And then it started:

It hasn't stopped.

Images forever etched into our minds, our hearts and our souls:

Smoke and flames billowing from one of the twin World Trade Centers.

People running for their lives.

A live television interview of a network executive watching from his office blocks away. "Oh my God, the second tower has been hit by another plane. This is unbelievable..."

Sirens, flashing lights, smoke, flames, flying debris.

GOD BLESS AMERICA, LAND THAT I LOVE

People running, covered with ash, bleeding, faces of disbelief, shock, horror, crying, screaming...

Television screens filled with veteran anchormen and women managing somehow to get the words out making no excuses for having trouble keeping their emotions under control. Awestruck.

Blurred images on the tv--blurred from the eyes of the viewer as the horror and emotion were unable to be controlled.

Then the unbelievable sight of the first of two 110-story towers crumbling to earth. Police and firefighters, paramedics, others yelling for everyone to run for their lives. A mushroom cloud of flames, debris, ash, body parts, steel, concrete, paper, glass, covering city blocks in seconds. Terror, disbelief, horror, life and death. Sobs, tears.

MY COUNTRY ‘TIS OF THEE, SWEET LAND OF LIBERTY..

The Pentagon has been hit by yet another plane and a fourth jetliner has crashed in rural Pennsylvania. This can't be real. Hundreds of people, at the very least, are dead. Possibly thousands.

Tears and sobs can't be controlled.

LAND OF THE FREE, HOME OF THE BRAVE

The second tower, another 110-story building crashes to the earth sending dust, ashes, debris and death to untold scores of innocent people, many of them in the midst of trying to rescue others. This can't be happening.

Anger. Uncontrollable rage. Shock. What to do. What to say. How can I help. The need to do something. Anything. What to say. No adequate words.

The horror of Vietnam. Kennedy being killed. The Challenger Disaster. The California quakes, The riots in Los Angeles. Separate incidents but nothing like this.

ONE NATION, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.

To hell with justice for those responsible.

The President in Air Force One. The Vice President in another place. An Act of War.

All this unfolding in an non-stop scene which would make Hollywood strut. This is for real. It can't be, but it is.

The heroic actions of rescue workers, volunteers, the Mayor and Governor of New York steadfast in their actions, torn by emotion, motived by awesome responsibility, taking leadership to the highest imaginable behavior. They were spectacular.

Members of Congress standing on the step of America's Capitol united and singing God Bless America. Goose bumps. Tears. Pride in our One Nation Under God.

Ash covered firemen raising the American Flag in the midst of still-flaming ruble.

Faces of New Yorkers wandering the streets, sobbing while desperately seeking loved ones. Some holding pictures, others with pictures pinned to their shirts.

Desperate searches of hospitals, morgues, emergency shelters seeking clues for the missing. Having hope, if nothing else.

Flags everywhere. Goose bumps. Tears. Why? Who?

AND CROWN THY GOOD WITH BROTHERHOOD FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA.

Hundreds of thousands of everyday citizens in Visalia, Woodlake, Tulare, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Lindsay, Porterville, Detroit, and San Diego lined up to give blood.

Children making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to help feed rescue workers.

Flags draped over the roof of the ravaged Pentagon. Flags on cars, in windows, on street corners. A man in a motorized personal scooter at Walnut and Mooney in Visalia holding a pole with a large American flag. School children, many too young to really grasp the reality of what has happened, wanting to do something, anything to express their feelings. Fund raising projects.

Those without flags trying desperately to find one. All were gone.

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Stories of cell phone calls from doomed airplane passengers and crew to family members, friends and loved ones telling of plans to subdue hijackers. Heart wrenching last messages of love. Tears, sobs, heartache, and heroism. Too much to comprehend.

A week passes.

Images linger. Details emerge. More dust, more rubble, more bodies, more stories of hope and hopelessness. More signs of a United States.

It will be a long, long time, but America will be stronger and better.

This is not a hope. This is fact.

WE ARE A GROUP OF PHOLKS UNITED.

Today America has changed. Tomorrow we will be better than ever. After all, we are THE LAND OF THE FREE AND THE HOME OF THE BRAVE.