9-11 Remembrance

On 9-11-2001 I was working at a police department in the Pacific Northwest. A supervisor walked into the middle of the room and just stood there. The color had drained from his face. He told me that America was under attack, and that planes had stuck New York and Washington,DC. At that point he turned and walked back to his office.

Within minutes, nearly every employee on duty was crammed into the break room in front of the television. The terror transfixed us for days. Stunned police officers had to climb back in their patrol cars and complete their jobs. The Chief held back tears of grief yet he had to rally us into a unified group that would continue to protect the people of our city.

But the lump of shock tried to choke us for weeks afterwards.We would see the images of death and feel the anger, the sorrow, the reality that people wanted to destroy us. And we stood strong, doing our jobs in spite of the repercussions. And then came the white powders.

The people of the city tetered on full panic. They saw terrorism and death in everything from talcum powder to chicken soup mix. Calls skyrocketed as domestic violence and drunk driving escalated at an alarming rate. New policies and procedures had to be created. Fear raged through the city. But the police had to remain calm. They had to bring stability, order, and peace to people whose fear had clouded their judgment.It would take a few months for the side-effects of 9-11 to subside. The reports we handled seemed to stack to the ceiling. But we did it, and we remembered our fallen brethren in New York.I am proud to have served with the men and women of that department, as I watched them perform their duties in spite of an atmosphere of uncertainty.

If you are tempted to believe the lies of those who try to intimidate us by their temper tantrums while touting that they are "peaceful;" if you are afraid of standing against a policy that deletes your right to say "no", just remember 9-11-2001.Remember the act of pure evil that killed 2700 of our people all at once and thousands since then from the wars and the fallout at Ground Zero. Remember and be an American. Stand up for what is right for our country and our heritage without placating the enemy.

"God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it." Daniel Webster 1782-1852