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What Will You Be Thinking on Patriot Day?

Patriot Day World Trade Center

Here at Clearly Tough we will pause a moment to remember.

Do you remember what you were doing on September 11, 2001?

On the Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001 I was folding laundry in a quiet house with the windows open and a gentle breeze blowing. The children were off to school and I sat alone. As I looked at the TV screen showing a plane flying across the sky headed for the city it seemed surreal. I kept thinking it must be a movie and not a live news cast. It just couldn’t be happening. But it did.

The terrorists hijacked two planes and crashed into the New York World Trade Center and a third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, causing the deaths of 2,977 people. The fourth plane was on it’s way to Washington DC, when the passengers attempted to take back control and it crashed in Pennsylvania.

Most Americans refer to Patriot Day as 9/11 or September 11. Friday marks the 14th anniversary of the attacks. We remember by observing a National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the Victims of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001. The United States flag is flown at half-staff on all U.S. government buildings throughout the world. A moment of silence is observed to correspond with the attacks. It begins at 8:46 AM (Eastern Daylight Time), the same time the first plane, struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center on that day.

A majority of those who died on the Twin Towers were the workers above the points of collision. It was an ordinary morning with thousands of people in their offices and suddenly they were stranded at the top of a burning skyscraper. It was a horrific scene captured by the news crews as it was happening. No one could forget these people and their stories on that day.

So tomorrow we have an invitation to stop. To reflect, to pray, to remember; to take inventory of where we are as individuals and as a people. Along with saying a prayer for the victims, their families and the hero’s who sacrificed on that day, I will be thinking about our nation and what I can do to keep it strong and make it better. Below are the things I love about America.

Seven things I love about America:

1. America provides a good life for the ordinary family. 
2. America offers boundless possibilities.
3. America has awesome National and State Parks.
4. In America, I can speak my mind.
5. Kindness and generosity abound in American churches and communities.
6. American people are mostly trustworthy and striving to build a strong nation.
7. America has a rich history of great leaders and extraordinary everyday people.