Former President speaks at Pentagon dedication of Rebuilt Section

President Obama Remembers Today 9/11/09, 8 year Later

It was a beautiful September morning, unlike any I had seen in years.

It was crisp, cool, and sunny.

At about 8:55 a.m. I was standing in my living room in my two story townhouse in Alexandria Virginia, about 1.5 miles down the road from the Pentagon when my sister-in-law called and told me to turn on the T.V. I told her I had to go as I was headed to the Hill to go to a hearing on the Senate side.

Mom had already left for work at Washington Hospital Center (she is a Nurse) earlier that morning, and I was running late.  The sound in my sister-in-law’s voice was grim, however, and it made me pause.  I turned on NBC the Today where Katie Couric and Matt Lauer were broadcasting LIVE  and discussing the plane that had just hit the Twin Towers in NYC.  Like most Americans I was confused and stunned as to what could have happened.

Then within a few minutes, I watched on LIVE TV (as millions did that morning) as the 2nd plane drove through the second tower.  My heart dropped–I knew we were under attack.  The worst was yet to come, however, as we watched people jumping from windows screaming, and others running below for their lives.  My thoughts turned to my friends who worked and lived in NYC and their safety.

At about 9:45 or so, I heard this horrible whizzing sound–then a horrific explosion, it knocked me off my balance and I could hear car alarms going off.  My knees buckled.  I knew we had been hit in D.C. but the question was where? TV stations started reporting that a car bomb had gone off, but that did not sound right to me as I would not have felt that across the Potomac into Alexandria.  I ran outside as did many of my neighbors, all of us horror struck, and one of my neighbors a defense contractor who had been in the military for years, had his camcorder and I went up and grabbed mine. He said he heard the Pentagon had been hit.  He was correct.

We went to the side of the ramp off of 395 headed into DC just across from Pentagon city and we could see and smell what appeared to be an inferno blazing on the west side of the Pentagon facing Arlington VA.  I have video of that horrible scene just moments after it occurred.  It is an image I will never forget as long as I live.

Fast forward 8 years later and America has a new President, and is still at war with the Terrorists.  Yet, we still have not captured Osama Bin Laden. Today is hard for all of us as Americans, because we will never forget that peaceful morning that forever changed the safe haven of America.  To President George W. Bush I say thank  you for keeping America safe for 7 years on your watch.  To President Obama I say our prayers are with you as you continue to keep America safe on your watch.

To my fellow Americans I say this: Please do not forget the way we all felt on that fateful September morning.  The way we hugged our families when we came home from work, or called friends and loved ones with fear in our hearts.  Never forget that life is a vapor and fragile and not ours to control.  Never forget to be kind, and show daily that you are in fact your brother/sister’s keeper.  And lastly, please remember that one day all of us will face death–we will do so alone–and with no-one to go with us.  As such, we should spend our time on this side of eternity doing good to others as we able, living in love, making peace and not war, and enjoying the love of our family, friends and neighbors.  That is what it is all about folks–not your money, your job, your success, your car, your house. 9-11 should have changed us all for the better. It should be an event that we carry with us daily in our hearts and in our actions.

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Uncategorized by Sophia Nelson