My alarm clock woke me up early one morning for work. I didn’t hear Brooks & Dunn, traffic reports or witty banter from the disc jockeys. Instead, were the beginning stages of a bad dream. I actually needed to get out of bed, turn on the TV, just to see if I was dreaming. Alas, it was not a dream. It was a nightmare. But nothing like the nightmare that people felt in New York, Washington D.C. and in the skies over Pennsylvania.

Watching the television, the emotions started to emerge. But it was nothing like the heartbreak of those waiting in various cities such as San Francisco and Boston. Waiting for loved ones that would not arrive.

I do not remember when I stopped crying. But I do not even try to say I understand the paid of families and friends of those that died. It is so difficult to fathom the phone calls that could not go through. Nor listening to answer machine messages that delivered a final goodbye. Nor citizens that wandered through the streets of New York with a makeshift flyer of a missing friend.  

It was the worst day of American history. But at the same time, we saw the best that America has to offer. Heroes. People in an airplane denied their fate, and crashed into an empty field. Cops and fireman did not even blink before rushing into sure death. Citizens rolled up their sleeves and began digging, looking for survivors. And Americans across the country gave blood, money and badly needed supplies to help out.

Five years later, Osama Bin Laden is still out there. We cannot even carry a bottle of water onto an airplane. It is evidence enough to know that we cannot forget. Not as long as evil lurks. Not as long as evil believes that they will be celebrated by their god for suicide bombing that rids the world of infidels.

I don’t forget the other side of the coin, either. I don’t forget about the American spirit. And I don’t forget that in the face of disaster, that people do step it up, and come though for each other. We move forward. We rebuild. We are not afraid to live our lives. We were not beaten.

This blog is dedicated to the thousands of Americans killed on 9-11. God bless their souls.