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A
Day of Unequaled Loss
USA/Frank
Salvato, Managing Editor |
This
column, as well as all other columns written on September 11th for the rest
of my life, is dedicated to all those who lost their lives on September
11th, 2001 and to their families. May we never forget exactly how we felt,
where we were and how much we all meant to each other on that horrible day.
September 11th, 2004 -
It was three years ago today that bloodthirsty terrorists, barbarians with
no souls, took over 3000 American lives to further their totalitarian cause.
It happened in New York City. It happened in Washington DC. It happened in
Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Our country looked on in horror, in insecurity,
in rage and in sadness. September 11th, 2001 will be forever etched in the
annals of American history as a day of unequaled loss.
For those who went to work in the World Trade Center on September 11th it
should have been a day like any other. America is a country based on
business and the people who occupied the structures known as the World Trade
Center epitomized the superiority of American ingenuity, determination and
work ethic. Those who filled the offices of this symbol of American business
should have had their day filled with meetings, conferences and phone calls,
profits, losses and investments. Instead, in a blink of an eye, their day
was filled with horror, exploding glass, twisted steel and the taste of
burning jet fuel.
For some it will be a recollection that is truly seared into their memories,
chaotic moments when the true meaning of survival was understood. Floor
after floor of clogged stairwells greeting thousands looking for an escape
from a building whose size was then truly realized. For many others there
will be no memories, no recollections. Their quest to escape their
collapsing world vanquished. For them and their families, a day of unequaled
loss.
For those firefighters, paramedics and police officers that answered the
call of duty to serve, and to protect, September 11th proved to be the
truest test of mettle they would ever know. While some were still climbing
stairs in an effort to rescue those who could not help themselves, even as
the very stairs they were climbing were falling from beneath their feet,
many others were left to sift through the rubble of the fallen towers,
bucket by agonizing bucket, in a quest for pieces of their fallen friends
and those they came to help. Brothers of the Badge were forged that day as
the people of the world bestowed the moniker “hero” upon them all. While the
families of the fallen Brothers feel that unequaled loss,
those who made the
ultimate sacrifice would have surely said they were just doing their jobs.
For those who went to work at the Pentagon on September 11th and survived
one can only imagine that thoughts of Pearl Harbor were not far from their
minds. While those who were going through the horror of the World Trade
Center still held the cause of their demise in question, those at the
Pentagon knew that what had happened to them was an act of war. As anger and
chaos reigned in the moments after the attack it was with dedication to
their fellow man that Pentagon employees worked feverishly to help the
wounded among the rubble and the dead. Those who fell victim stand as the
first casualties in the War on Terror, their families afforded the stinging
memory of unequaled loss.
And still there were those who died in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In a definitive example of American bravery, a selfless group of men and
women, understanding the importance of not allowing those who had altered
their world forever to succeed in their diabolical plot of murder,
destruction and hate, took it upon themselves to come to the call of
justice. Sacrificing themselves for their fellow Americans Todd Beamer, Mark
Bingham, Tom Burnett, Jeremy Glick, Lou Nacke, Honor Wainio, CeeCee Lyles,
and Sandra Bradshaw, among others, thwarted the carnage that could have been
inflicted on our nations capitol and the hearts of all Americans. While
their memories will stand forever in that Pennsylvania field their families
and friends know the bitter taste of unequaled loss.
As a nation, we all share in that unequaled loss. Our innocence vanished in
the deadly fireball that claimed the first lives in the World Trade Center.
We will never be able to turn back time to a moment where we were ignorant
to the evils of terrorism. It is a part of our lives now always to exist and
because of this we, as a nation, as a people, know a different kind of
unequaled loss.
They say that those running for office shouldn’t politicize the events of
September 11th, 2001. They say that to do so would make the American people
numb to the true horrors of that day. Personally, I think those that have
chosen to take the images from out sight are the ones that should be
chastised. For the old adage holds true, “Out of sight, out of mind.” And
the one thing that we cannot do is forget. We cannot forget the horror, the
terror, the anger, the sadness or the memories of all the souls released
from the world that day at the hands of savages.
Let’s keep these memories close at hand, every single one of them. Let’s
vanquish those who oppose us in the War on Terror and hold those complacent
responsible. It is the least we can do for those who perished and those who
understand the unequaled loss.
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