Feeling patriotic

Posted:
Tue :: 11 :: Sep :: 2007 :: 09.47 pm

Tagged:
9/11

Commented:
6 times (now closed)

Feeling patriotic

I feel like I am an everyday patriot, but I am not sure what that really means.

I am mindful of our democracy and all that brings us. I am sorry for those everyday folks and heroes that lost their lives six years ago. I am sorry for the families left behind.

I appreciate our troops for serving our country and putting themselves in harm’s way. I am sorry that I don’t agree with the cause that is costing some of them their lives. I am sorry that I will not go into detail on why I don’t agree.

I am not a political person and I don’t want to play one on these interwebs. In fact, I started rambling on about it not being worth saving a buck on gasoline and why does W feel the need to make up for his daddy’s mistake? Yeah, I started down that path and I just deleted it out of here.

It doesn’t matter.

What does matter is that I remember what happened six years ago.

I remember almost everything about that day and how I felt. The initial shock of hearing what happened just as I got into work in Boston after getting on a conference call. Not being able to get on these interwebs because they were crushed by demand for information. The feeling of dread coming on as the day progressed with the realization that there could be more attacks coming. The sudden need to get out of the city with my Mom as soon as we could. Wanting to get home to be with Noelle and her wanting me home to comfort her. Riding the subway with the fear that someone was going to release a gas or bomb it. Witnessing an entire subway car of people stare down a man wearing a turban. Feeling sorry for him having to endure the stares and whispers, but also feeling uneasy about him being in the same car as me. Being glued to the television news all night. Going to sleep with an eerie, quiet night sky without airplanes flying to and from Logan.

I think to be an everyday patriot, I need to remember these thoughts on the other 364 days besides today.

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This post has 6 comments (now closed):

Feeling unpatriotic :: OB1og

Tue :: 11 :: Sep :: 2007 :: 11.10 pm

[…] don’t worry, this is directed towards the New England Patriots. In fact, my patriotic feelings were originally a tangent within this post, but I busted them out on their own, where they belong. […]

Ed

Wed :: 12 :: Sep :: 2007 :: 08.09 am

Well put. I was going to draft my 911 post yesterday as well (guess we three Bloggers were all on the same wavelength) but then the day escaped me.

I’ll put it all down at some point (guess I have to wait until next year) but I’ll say this – that is one of those days where I remember every minute in vibrant detail. I mean everything. I remember every damned thing I did that morning – and I remember the exact moment I waltzed through our company’s Call Center and caught, out of the corner of my eye, the 2nd plane hitting the tower and just stopping dead in my tracks. Before it was merely an ‘accident’. Now it was unquestionably an act of war.

I also remember wanting to beat the living pulp out of this meathead who stood alongside me in a crowd of employees watching the towers burn on live TV. When the first tower began to collapse he turned and started laughing. That disconnect in him with what was transpiring a mere 200+ miles away and was irrevocably shattering lives across the globe – that fact that we were witnessing mass murder before our very eyes – made me, for the briefest of moments, want to disconnect every piece of that guy from the rest of him. Then, I realized, I’m better than that.

What I remember most though was how beautiful that day began. I mean, it was a blinding blue September morn, a slight Fall crisp was in the air, and what started out as a storybook morning quickly morphed into a grim fairy tale with no apparent end in sight.

Anyway, more in my own Blog some day, but I wanted to salute your reflection.

Sean

Wed :: 12 :: Sep :: 2007 :: 05.57 pm

@Ed – Hey, so I know I busted your balls over on Jason’s blog for copy and paste of your comments… but, after I read this again I wonder why you don’t just post this there anyway? I mean, I could have posted my stuff as a comment on his post, but I did my own. I think what you have here is perfect as its own entity in The Ed Zone and most of your readers aren’t ever going to come here or to BBn to read it. It may not be complete for what you want, but like you said, you can have more next year. A day late isn’t leaving you a dollar short.

Noelle

Wed :: 12 :: Sep :: 2007 :: 09.39 pm

I was reminded of that fateful day when I glanced at my phone yesterday. September 11th will never be forgotten. Sometimes we get caught up in our everyday lives and forget what happened then. We forget what is happening now, in Iraq, in our own country, and elsewhere. There is poverty and crime and racism and more. It is so important to think of others and their struggles, to remind ourselves of how good we have it and do what we can to help others.

I was at the site of former WTC a few months ago. There were notes and pictures from children of the people killed that day. It was so difficult to see those, but it was a powerful reminder of what happened and the number of people that lost their lives. None of those people knew what would happen that day. They went to work like any other day. We should be thankful for what we have and for each and every day.