Remember

On September 11, 2001, I was at Cottonwood Mall in Holladay doing my usual morning walk before heading to work. As I passed through the food court, the TV was on. I didn't realized it was breaking news, even when a retiree said something to me. I got to my car and listened to my usual radio station, which was also reporting breaking news of the World Trade Center being attacked by airplanes. Later that morning I found out that another airplane flew into the Pentagon. The two towers in Manhattan fell, while the Pentagon had a gaping hole for all of Washington to see. Thousands of people of different nationalities and demographics died that day. Not only did the passengers and crews of the plane die, but people who worked in the buildings, firefighters and police who went to the rescue and probably those who were visiting the buildings. Later in the day, United 93 crashed in Pennsylvania as some brave and courageous passengers took a plane down that terrorists had gained control. It was rumored that the plane was headed toward the White House or Congress.

As I watched the news, I had a impression that I knew someone who perished in these attacks. I  had a cousin who flew for American Airlines, but he was on vacation that day. Still I had that nagging feeling that I knew someone. A day or two later, I found out that my niece, Tracie lost a dear friend in the attack on America. She met Eugene Whalen while she was nanny in New York. Tracie missed her family in Portland and when she came home, Eugene followed. But when the call came to fulfill his dream of being a New York firefighter, he returned home. Eugene's shift had just ended when the call came in to rescue those in the World Trade Center.
I learned that day that not all patriots are in the military. Some wear the uniform of a firefighter or a policeman. Eugene was one who gave his all as were those who were on Flight 93.

As firefighters and other volunteers were clearing and finding people who had perished at Ground Zero, some firemen found an American flag. They found a flag pole and stood it up again. Once more the flag was flying, but this time in the rubble of the World Trade Center. Hope was raising once more that America would heal and move forward.
In the picture, there is a young boy standing at the monument. His father (or mother), who may or may not be in the picture may have brought him to the healing fields. He is like most students in elementary and  middle school who were born after 9/11, so it is important to tell them about what happen 15 years ago when we as nation stood together. As we teach them, hopefully we will remember the courageous people who died to save others. Like Eugene, like Flight 93. And those who survived who saved others from perishing like the men in one of the towers who brought carried a woman in wheel chair down all those stairs and the firemen who flew the flag over Ground Zero.