|
 |
Old Glory; Keep Her
Flying
By George Starks
Do you remember that day?
I do and short of me having full blown Alzheimers, I will never forget.
It started off for me like any other normal day.
Sept. 11, 2001.
I got out of bed, grabbed my coffee, did my normal routine... getting
ready for work. I arrived at work, coffee mug in hand, clocked in and
went to my everyday job, cutting gears in a machine shop.
That was the end of what would otherwise be a ‘normal’ day.
It wasn’t long after the day shift had started, one of my buddies came
to my machines. I never gave it much thought because he did it often.
“Go to the breakroom, the televisions are on, our country is under
attack!” he said.
Knowing this guy as well as I did, I knew this was not a prank. I shut
my machines off and headed for the breakroom, coffee in hand. There it
was, in living color on a big screen, the World Trade Center was in
flames.
Then, the second of the Twin Towers were hit. I stared in amazement.
How could this be happening?
Why?
Dan Rather (CBS) was beyond words. The breakroom was silent. We knew
what was going on, yet we, like Rather, were at a loss for words. Many
of us were together in prayer.
That was 10 years ago and the visions of that day are still fresh in my
mind.
Our seniors in high school today were in the second grade at that time;
our freshman were yet to go to school and some in the lower grades were
yet to be born.
I hope these kids are watching the video from that day in school. As I
will never forget that day, they are the ones who need to know what
happened. From the seniors down to first grade, kids should be seeing
what can happen, even in America.
Many say we are a country with freedoms like no other. A lot of our
freedoms were lost that day. 9-11 was a true emergency. Like the
bombing of Pearl Harbor, it was a day that went down as a day in infamy
and will live forever.
Like many of us who served our country, no matter what uniform we wore,
it made us sick to our stomach. A few of us knew what was coming after
that and if we would have been accepted, we would have re-enlisted on
the spot.
At the time, I was 43 years old. Too old to join again.
There was a call to arms that day. Someone would eventually pay for
this. After the Japanese bombed Pearl, then Admiral Yammamoto said, “I
fear we have awakened a sleeping giant.”
On 9-11-2001, the giant was once again awakened and the mighty Eagle
was ready to fly. Please, let us not forget the lives that were lost
that day and the lives that have been lost since then because of it.
‘Old Glory’, let’s keep her flying high.
Give her a salute, a sign of respect.
|
|
|
|
