9/11 Tribute. Remember the Heroes

I was ten, in fifth grade when we were attacked on September 11th, 2001. Some teachers turned on their televisions, but mine just kept teaching. I had no clue why kids were being picked up early all day long. I found out once I got home and my neighbor showed me, but I still didn't fully comprehend the gravity of the event. Today, I wish I'd have been old enough to realize at the time what had happened.


For eleven years, I avoided watching the footage of the attack, because I knew I wasn't ready to handle the graphic truth. I understood what happened. I knew the horror the people in the towers and the city went through, but watching it was different.

This morning, before heading off to work, I watched a video with clips and pictures played to Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning." When I see sad things, I tear up like a normal person. But this...the clip of the plane flying into the tower made me instantly burst into tears and sob.

On the one year anniversary, I was in sixth grade and in the middle school. Our principal had each grade wear a different color. 6th was red, 7th was white, and 8th was blue. We then took the afternoon off, and filed onto the football field, and arranged the student body into three large human-letters. U-S-A.

I wish I had a picture of that. I've never seen the pictures they took that day.

There have been many, many 9-11 tributes, and I'm proud of each of them. But my favorite is the Budweiser commercial, aired only once.

Every other day of the year, I can listen to Toby Keith's "Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue" and burst with American pride, but on September 11th, I cry for those who lost their lives.

Our actual flag flying in front of our house. 

Please comment if you want to share your September 11th story.

Remember the heroes. Remember 9/11/01.