Remembering 9/11... - Charles Fuller's Blog

Here I sit today and think to myself..."HAS IT REALLY BEEN SIX YEARS SINCE THE TERRORIST ATTACKS OF 9/11?"  I can remember every moment of that day as if it happened only a day or two ago.  I was leaving the dentists office when word came in about the attack.  I remember everything stopping as I ran to the local barber shop to watch the television on what was happening.  As I watched the footage of the atacks unfold I was shocked, angry, afraid, ANGRY, ANGRY, ANGRY!!!  Even today as I see the archival footage, I can still feel that need to do something, to hug my wife and daughter and reassure them that it was going to be OK.  This evening I will go to my local church and say my prayers for those who lost their lives in the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and in a field in Shanksville Pennsylvania.  I will honor and remember the heroes of 9/11, the firefighters, police officers, rescue workers, volunteers, and the military personnel who put their lives on the line to help and save as many people as they could, and we all know that many of those workers lost their lives as they climbed the towers looking for the injured and trapped victims of that terrible attack.  Here are a few facts:

• 2985 people died  in the 9/11 attacks (2966 victims, 19 terrorist)

There were 265 innocent people traveling on the four aircaft that day

• American Airlines Flight 11 (WTC) 92 victims
• United Airlines Flight 175 (WTC) 65 victims
• American Airlines Flight 77 (Pentagon) 64 victims
• United Airlines Flight 93 (Shankville, PA) 45 victims

Of the 2595 victims of the attack on the WTC:

• 343 were NYFD firefighters/paramedics
• 23 were NYPD police officers
• 37 were Port Authority police officers

     The actions of all the Resuce Workers and Police Officers showed us all what real selflessness & true heroism really was.  Despite their own fears, the went in to those burning towers to help, and 403 of them never came out.  An unknown number of men & women on Flight 93 fought back  and stopped the terrorists from hitting their intended target somewhere in Washington D.C.  These are the heroes of that fateful day.  The terrorists believed they could put the fear of God into us and break our spirit and unity, and they were wrong.  When I went to Ground Zero with my brother (a paramedic), I was both frightened and proud.  Standing next to this twisted tomb of concrete and steel I was afraid, this could happen again...anywhere.  Working next to a Ron (a welder from Boise Idaho), Greg (a machinist from Corpus Christi Texas), and Nathan( a college student from New York), I experienced a unity and common bond I've never felt anywhere else, I was proud to be an American at that moment.  It showed that we can all put our differences aside and work together for the common good. 

     On this day six years later I ask all of you, my fellow Poetrysoup poets, take a moment and rember those who lost their lives.  Say a prayer for all those innocent men, women,  & children who never came home.  Give thanks that we have great men & women that protect and help us, and pray for the souls of their fallen brothers of the NYPD, NYFD, Port Authority, and any others I may have missed.  Rember and honor the courage it must have taken to fight back against the terrorists at 30,000 feet.  And remember the 1609 people who lost a spouse, and the 3051 children who lost their Mom or Dad.  God Bless!  Peace!  Thank you my friends!