Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion

That day hit close to home for me because it happened on the Friday before the Monday I started training at Shearson Lehman Brothers. For one month, I lived around the corner from the smoking building and walked past it every morning and every evening. Late one evening around 3am (going out drinking was a big part of training back then), we actually walked into the parking garage to take a gander and were shocked by the devastation. That was a might big hole. So big that after we walked out, we stopped to talk and look up at both towers and it was no mystery to us then what the terrorists had tried to do. We were amazed that a building could take so much damage at the base and not collapse.

Then we grimly discussed what it be like for such a building to fall. We figured it could never happen. Now we know what it is like for TWO such buildings to fall.

As awful an event as that was, I marvel at how resilient Americans are, particularly New Yorkers who, in contrast to the endlessly whining victims of New Orleans, returned to normal almost immediately. Just step over the debris and go on with your life.

Well to our enemies we are just Americans and maybe a few too many hormonal middle-aged women. Heh, couldn't resist.

Seriously, I was impressed that CNN ran a piece on two young men of Pakistani descent travelling across the US in search of the tolerant America that gave us such promise. Lo and behold they found it everywhere they went. Contrast that with The New York Times that can find a way to lecture us and drive us apart on this day. I find that very very sad.

My brother was at the WTC in 1993 working when that truck blew up. He was at the hotel (I believe it was a Marriott) at the base of the towers on 9/11/2001. He told me that after the 1993 one he didn't enjoy working there anymore, even though it withstood the devastating explosion in the parking garage. On 9/11 he said everyone, on hearing and feeling the first plane hit (they didn't know it was a plane, of course) the entire conference room just got up quickly and quietly, exiting the hotel. When I was FINALLY able to reach him on 9/12, he told me, "I watched them build it; I remember the issues over the structural integrity of the I-beams, and knew about the physical and structural integrity of the towers. I knew they would fall, so I just booked it north, looking back over my shoulder once in a while." He didn't see the 2nd plane hit, but heard it and knew it was another terrorist attack. Masses of people were going north, too, and they all kept checking back to see the horrible vision.

I am so thankful that he was able to survive - both attacks! God is gracious and merciful. I pray for those who remain, and those who lost loved ones that day. We must never forget.

We are Americans. Resilient - that is indeed a great word to describe us. I really love the pictures you chose - they show how Americans work together, how we don't care about skin color, but individual lives. Life is precious. This enemy thinks the exact opposite. We are diametrically opposite in our worldviews. We must never submit, never surrender to tyranny or fear. We are Americans.

Thanks for bringing us together, reminding us of who we really are.

The left will never quit playing the so-called "race card"--it's their bread and butter.

@crockettlives

True that. But this Islamic card has bitten them in the tail... an unintended consequence prairie dog moment. Victim card playing just took a giant leap backwards.