911

I've heard people say that you will always remember where you were and what you were doing when you found out about the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.  I do.  I had just gotten home from my paper route and was on my way downstairs to get ready for school when my mom stopped me and informed me that the first plane had hit one of the Twin Towers.  I found it interesting, but didn't really know what was happening at the time.  Later on that day, in my Social Studies class, we spent the entire hour watching the news.  By then the second plane had crashed into the other Twin Tower.  I still don't think I really knew what was going on.  It was a lot for someone my age to take in, and likely too much for me to truly comprehend.

I was thinking about it today and I am so grateful to live in this country.  Our nation boasts a freedom that billions of people can only dream of.  Literally.  It is something to hold to and cherish.  When that freedom was challenged on this day 10 years ago, this country banded together and became, in many ways, stronger than it was before.  It made me think of the old adage, "United We Stand; Divided We Fall."  This is a true principle.  But what is it that we stand united for?  And what divisions might cause us to fall?  I would imagine that it would be in the cause of liberty and justice—true freedom—that we stand united.  But what is it that truly makes us free?  

This country was built on principles of integrity and prosperity.  If we continue to live true to those ideals, it is a foundation that will carry us to the prosperity we seek and have enjoyed in times past.  On a similar note, I would imagine that failure to adhere to the same would be the divisions which would cause us to fall:  the dissent of our integrity.  The terrorist attacks were a severely solemn and horrendous occasion, but from the rubble, we rose as a nation and responded in a positive light.  As we came together to lift one another, I think, if only but for a time, we were able to look outside so many fickle pursuits and remember what got us this far in the first place, and what is truly important.

Let us remember the lives that were lost that day, and let that memory lead us to honor them and the country we love by perpetuating the strength that we found that day.  We don't need tragedy to strike to call us to action; we shouldn't need catastrophe to remember.  We have plenty of motivation all around us constantly.  If we can see an end to the things worth fighting and sacrificing for, maybe we need to open our eyes a little wider.  That all of us allow ourselves to be able to do these things is my hope and my prayer.

God Bless America.