Remembering 9-11

It doesn't seem possible that ten years have gone by already, but, checking back, I see I said the same thing last year and the year before. I remember very well waking up to the news that some jet had had an accident and flown into one of the WTC towers. Then, I watched along with millions of others as the second jet liner hit the other tower, proving to all that America was under attack. I had to drive up to the city that day for a dentist appointment (Monarch Dentistry -no joke) and although I was a little shaken up I thought there was no safer place to be considering the number of air force bases in the neighborhood. I remember in the immediate aftermath how jumpy everyone was, our sense of security had been shattered. Was this only the first wave? New York had been hit, the Pentagon, the Capital was targeted, what would be next? The following day someone called in a bomb threat on the Lincoln-Juarez bridge and the border with Mexico was shut down. It was the first time I had ever seen armed National Guardsmen on the U.S. side of the border and checkpoints. That was also the day when the 'Stars & Stripes' began to appear everywhere. Everyone had a flag. Businesses which had previously flown the U.S., Mexico and Texas flags now flew three U.S. flags. Where they had flown the six flags of Texas they flew six U.S. flags instead. It was as if the whole country were crowned with red-white-blue. It was a tragedy like none I had ever lived through before, making things like Oklahoma City and the Challenger pale in comparison. However, it also brought out feelings of solidarity, teamwork and patriotism and -no matter how often it is misused- I have always considered patriotism a good thing. The attacks also awoke America to a problem that had been brewing for some time but which most of the world had been content to ignore. The final outcome of that situation, remains to be seen.