“Bonded Stories, Forever”
“It was the convergence of almost three-thousand individual stories with our own. Ours continued forward from that day. Theirs did not.
Tears, remembrances, memorials, new buildings, flags, ribbons, blogs (including this one), draped with honorable intentions, can’t mask the horror all of us experienced. Horror that most certainly – most assuredly – pales in comparison to the terror felt..
…Deep within the towers of the ill-fated….making desperate pleas for help, final calls to loved ones, and prayers for salvation.
…Deep within the hearts of men, high above in the big blue deciding when to make a life-ending decision for all aboard. Taking on the monumental charge forward, through the cockpit door, into the hands of fate, finally coming to rest in among the peaceful fields of Shanksville, Pa.
….Deep within another plane headed for the Pentagon. A five-sided fortress of military symbolism fated to be target practice for radical warriors destined to complete a mission of misguided justice. A plane. A building. Both nurturing innocence – innocence unaware of what was to come.
…Deep within the hearts of all the first responders who gave their life that day doing their job….who pushed forward in their heroism.
And then the day ended.
Our individual stories continued forward from that day. Theirs did not.
It was on that day when our moments came together, our rivers of dissent merged into one ocean of tears, and we said good-bye to almost three-thousand souls who didn’t deserve to die on that calm, sunny, beautiful September Tuesday in 2001.
We remember them. All of them. In our forward moving lives, each step we take should be a small remembrance of the steps they were not given. Each small glance to stars a reminder of the children they did not see grow up.
And each – and every – moment we feel something deep within, it is a bond forever felt with a day, a moment, a convergence of three-thousand stories with our own.”
DougHugs 