9/11

My boys wondered why their teachers requested they Red, White, & Blue on Friday, so I gave them a brief description of 9/11. They listened in awe as if I was telling them an interesting and slightly horrifying story, but just that... a story. 10 years ago, they didn't sit there on the couch all day watching the horrific coverage, watching the 2nd plane hit the tower, watching people jump out of the buildings, watching reports of the pentagon being hit and then the reports of the other flight being crashed in a field. Watching in horror as the Twin Towers tumbled to the ground. And then watching it all over again, because we were all so stunned we needed to see it again just to believe it. And so to them it is just a story. An event in history, that they'll know about but never really appreciate.

Being Sunday, we sang all Patriotic songs, it took me just a moment to remember why, and then I found myself getting emotional. I felt overwhelming pride to be an American, to live in this free country. The 3rd verse of America the Beautiful struck me today while we were singing it.

"Oh, beautiful for heroes proved in liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved, And mercy more than life."

That song was written in 1895 and those words are still just as true. Heroes were made that day and many died that day as well. I love that America didn't just fall down and die as the terrorist would have hoped. We stood together, our heads held high, linked arm in arm and ready for a fight. That's what makes us a free country. That's what makes this the "promised land," and I am proud today to call myself an American!