Remembering 9-11

Just some random things I remember about that awful day 8 years ago.

I was in the process of trying to get a defoliation plot out on some cotton that morning when I got a call from Mark Nutt that a plane had hit one of the towers. The cotton still lacked a couple of weeks being ready to defoliate so I went to town and stopped in at the D&J Gin here in Lockney to figure out what was going on. As I walked in the door, the second plane hit the other tower, then the news of the Pentagon being hit. I can remember thinking, "is this really happening on our soil?'. The collapse of the first town just sent chills down my spine. My thoughts and prayers immediately went to the folks trapped inside when it collapsed and the folks attempting to rescue them. The second tower falls. The looks on the people on the street, covered in the soot, walking aimlessly. The look on President Bush's face when he got the news as he was with a group of school children in Florida. The humanity of the people at the sites, all pitching in together to help. The firemen raising the flag at ground zero in New York. The president's speech the next day from ground zero. The thoughts of friends and family that were traveling that day. The need to go and hold my kids close. The relief to know the friends and family that were traveling safe on the ground, not at home, but safe. The complete shutdown of financial institutions and transportation. The images of the people at the sites holding pictures of loved ones unaccounted for. The heroism of the folks on United Airlines Flight 93.

The days that followed are not as clear as the day it happened in my mind. I have the special editions of the Plainview Daily Herald and the Lubbock Avalance-Journal that were published that day and the day after. I can remember going to Plainview that afternoon and seeing Danny Andrews, the editor of the Plainview paper, standing in the middle of 5th and Quincy selling the paper.

The event completely changed the way I look at patriotism. I had a brand new perspective on America. On that day, and the days that followed, we were no longer Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals, but we were one nation, under God. The national anthem, every time i hear it now, has new meaning. I can listen to the words and imagine what the writer was seeing and feeling.

I will never forget!