9 11 01 National Memorial Park

I will always remember where I was when the first plane flew into the Twin Towers:
I was in my office at school ( before I retired from School Teaching).   I had 30 minutes before the first set of parents were due in my Spec Ed Administration Office.   I was sipping tea, all was ready.  I turned on the TV to catch the weather, or news.   The twin towers came up on the screen, a plane was reported to be off course......   contact couldn't be made, and then there was an explosion.  The rerun showed an airliner flying into the tower.    Shocking!  This couldn't be real, someone was disoriented, or sick, or inexperienced, or lost ............
Then the second plane showed up on radar, same flight path!  No this couldn't be true!  It couldn't happen twice.........
and then the plane hit the second tower!   Smoke, explosion, disbelief!!!!
Shouting, screaming, disbelief, incomprehension!
      
  Last summer I was able to go to the site of the Flight 93 crash.  It was the 3rd hijacked, plane that the passengers had taken a vote, to take the plane back. They rushed the cock pit, fought with the hijackers and forced the change in direction of the flight.  The new Memorial National Park had recently opened.  I went to see and experience the story.
     I was moved beyond my wildest expectations.  As I watched the ceremony there, 
I recognized the sites, the wall of names that I had touched, flight path in concrete, the crash site, marked with a 17 ton Granite rock where the plane dove into the ground, leaving a 40 ft wide crater that was 40 ft deep........ 
      It has been one year since I was there, but the memory is no less poignant.   The bravery, the honor, the courage those men, women and children demonstrated should be a model for every citizen and person living in this country.   They gave their lives so that others could live and be free.    Today reminds us that America is a good place to live, with wonderful people all around us, that are brave, courageous, and kind.  It is a place where you can build a dream and work as hard as you want to achieve that dream and success.  It is still the land of opportunity!!!!!!

      When I was in the museum of Flight 93, I wanted to contribute to the preservation of the park, so I bought souvenirs, which I hardly ever do.  I came home with a sweat shirt and a mug.   They were wildly over priced, but I didn't care.  I wanted to do some small thing, to remember.   Today I drank from that mug and I wore the sweat shirt all day.    I wanted to express my patriotism for this wonderful country that I live in, to express my gratitude and profound appreciation for all those who gave the last full measure.
      While America has some warts, it's not the Evil, sinful, horrible country it is portrayed as.     God Bless America!  
Extras: Taken last summer when I was at the National Park      1. the explosion when the plane crashed     2. The Tower of Voices...  Built with chimes that swing ing the wind, the sounds of the voices of passengers on that plane, that are still being heard on the air.......     3.  The Granite Rock that marks the crash site and burial site,           4. Wall of Names for all the passengers, and  crew.