Remembering the day the world cracked open

This little movie made in commemoration by a NY City citizen shows the raw face of what happened 5 years ago today. I remember - as I am sure everyone does - the images burned forever into my soul. I remember exactly how I felt as I watched the second tower fall.


I didn't need to cry and oddly I was not overcome by anger or rage. But the warrior inside of me was awakened, alerted to the new world that I was observing. In my mind I tiptoed to the edge of the world I had known, where a huge crack had just suddenly appeared, and I looked into it knowing that everything had changed. Obviously I was observing an Act of War, something I had been trained to respond to and this instinct felt strong. I thought I was going to have to re-enlist.

I was not a huge fan of the new President but when he said "Freedom was attacked today by a faceless coward," I knew he was right. And when he said "Freedom will be defended," I knew I was ready. I knew if this could happen so close to us that it could happen to us as well. I knew that I would protect whatever world my children, who stood watching the Towers fall with me, lived in.

As circumstances would have it Duncan talked me out of the re-enlistment and as time went by it was evident that would not be required of me. Actually as time went on a lot changed... and as Duncan so eloquently put it... actions taken by the President and his administration forced a change in my feelings and opinions. Enough so that and I must admit I have come to believe, especially with and since the onset of "Operation Iraqi Freedom," that my definition of "Freedom" is different than that of President Bush's.


Freedom. To the very core of my being it means everything. These past five years I have been unsure how to defend it.