9/11 - I Will Not Forget

like many other significant dates in our country's history, i remember exactly and clearly the morning of September 11, 2001.

i was home with a five month old baby, a two year old toddler and my nanny (from Lebanon). doing normal morning stuff.

when my dad called. he asked if we were watching the news. he knew i seldom, if ever, turn the tv on in the morning.

so i walked to the den, flipped on the tv and the first image i saw was the twin towers in flames.

then i watched them crash down - with thousands trapped inside.

i watched as the pentagon was attacked.

i watched brave americans perish in pennsylvania as they fought back.

i wasn't the mother, sister, wife or friend of anyone lost that day. but i quickly realized i had an intimate connection to the loss. i am an american and i was a target. my children are targets.

(this image quickly became one of my favorites.

The artist is Eliza Gauger, a (then) 17-year-old student from Bellingham, Washington)

and today, six years later, americans are still targets. we are no safer today than we were then. there is a great deal of propaganda out there that would have us believe we are safer and the war on terrorism is being won.

i'm sorry.
did I miss something?
war on terrorism???
was it saddam that masterminded the 9/11 attacks?

no wait! he was the convenient scapegoat that allowed dubya to avenge his father's failures in the first gulf war while at the same time lining the pockets of dick cheney.

good ole' bait and switch.
nothing more than a cheap carnival trick.

i didn't buy it then.
i don't buy it now.

what a farce -
and a pathetic tribute to the americans that lost their lives six years ago today.

it's not much - but I will remember.

and i honor you today.

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for a much better editorial by Anna Quindlen, click here.