Have You Forgotten?

Twelve years ago, I was sitting in trailer 2 for algebra II with Mr Q, except he wasn't there that day -- it was that creepy old dude sub who I think had military experience and thought he was a total hardass but was completely worthless -- when we found out that a plane had hit the Pentagon. We tried to stay calm, even thinking that old guy was joking, but every one pulled out their cell phones and started calling their parents. It's not an easy thing to hear when you live in the Metro area. We knew that there was another plane (the one that would crash in Pennsylvania) and no one knew for sure if it was heading for NSA (where again, a lot of kids' parents worked) or another spot in DC. We were shuffled inside to the library where we watched the second tower fall (despite the fact that we were sophomores and juniors, they shut it off immediately citing that we didn't need to be exposed to that, a sentiment that makes me laugh given what today's sophomores and juniors are exposed to). We were released early, told to go straight home, and my brother thought I was nuts for sitting there and just watching the news channels for the rest of the day. There was total disbelief from me, how could we, a great nation be under attack? I think President Bush should be commended with the way he handled the news (in case you forgot, he was reading to children at a local school when he received the news) and how he addressed the nation. As a sixteen year old junior, I felt reassured that those who attacked my great nation would pay.

Fast forward to 2012, another fall, another deployment, no big deal I thought. We've been through hubby being down range on 9/11, we got this. Um, no we don't. Panic, trying to keep distracted after hearing that Ambassador Chris Stephens, and three other Americans, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty, and Sean Smith, had been killed after the consulate in Benghazi, Libya had been overtaken. Holding your breath trying to get through the day without hearing anything bad at of Afghanistan, avoiding the gossipy wives in the unit to make sure that you save your sanity. Feeling horrible for those four families, and the military families that would receive knocks that day and over the next several days.

I want so badly to turn this into a political diatribe for the rest of this but I won't. We lost so many people in DC, New York, Pennsylvania, Benghazi, Iraq and Afghanistan since. We will continue to lose Americans in Afghanistan as long as we're still there. Don't just remember these Americans just today, remember them every day. Remember Pearl Harbor every day. Remember the two World Wars, the Korean War, the Viet Nam war, the Gulf war every day. Remember that we come from great people, even if people, both domestic and foreign, try to tear down this country every day. Don't let those we've lost fighting for this country to ever be forgotten, fight for their legacy and to keep this country as great as they thought it.