The morning had begun with an explosion of color. One of those sunrises that pierces the darkness and changes it to a stellar brilliance. I’d started early, before dawn’s transformation, and was well into my daybreak ritual of thought. The reviewing and previewing of agendas, goals, tasks and tactics filled the commute and accompanied me to my desk. It was Amanda who came to re-focus my attention. “Have you heard the news?” And with that, the world changed.
It’s interesting how in a second, a twinkling of the eye, everything can become different. It was the same feeling I had over twenty years ago in a hospital room in a small inconsequential town on the Great Plains. As my family stood saying goodbye to my father, the air was not charged with emotion nor was the day much different than any other day, but in a second the world changed. I was no longer just his son. I was now the father. All those decisions that were always deferred to him were now directed to me. That day, even though well established and independent for some time, a turning point had been approached, embraced and passed in a flicker of time. The world changed.
It is my wish that America never recovers from the events of September 11, 2001. The terror will subside, the fear will seem distant again, and the grief will dull, but hopefully the unity and resolve of the American people will forever change, how we look at the world and ourselves. It is my belief that how this generation views freedom, its benefits and its cost, will never be the same as they were when morning broke that Tuesday. May we never recover from remembering the importance of knowing our neighbors and taking time to enjoy the sunrise and those who share it with us.
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