Lest we Forget.....

Every year for the last six years I get a phone call from a good friend of mine on Sept. 11th and we rehash our experience of this day back in 2001. We were in Atlanta at a Microsoft trade show when we started hearing rumors about a plane hitting one of the towers at the World Trade Center in New York. It didn't take long before the show was shut down and thousands of people stood in front of t.v. monitors watching the events unfold. I remember thinking how odd it was as we all just sat there in silence, shock really. Early on I was a little concerned about the fact that I was so far from home and really had no idea what was going on. I called Leslie to see if she was watching the news. She wasn't so I told her to turn it on and call me back. She called and of course had convinced herself that this was the end of the world. I think she had watched Red Dawn one to many times as a kid. The microsoft show was shut down and we were left with nothing to do. A group of us decided to go play golf of all things. I look back now and think what an insensitive thing to do, but it sure got us away from the inescapable onslaught of information pouring from everywhere. Stone Mountain Golf Resort is a great golf course and I'm pretty sure that it would be difficult to go and play that course again and be the only group playing. That was kind of erie in and of itself in light of everything that was going on. That night of course we sat in front of the t.v. as the news footage was played over and over again. I was numb. I kept thinking there must have been 30,000 people in those buildings. The next morning we were told that the show was shut down for good and that the larger vendors had rented busses to get there people home. All flights had been grounded and nobody had any idea when they would be allowed to fly again. There were five of us, two rental cars and a lot of ground between Atlanta, GA. and home. We started driving on wednesday afternoon and didn't stop except for food and gas until we got to the Salt Lake Airport on Thursday night. You really get to know somebody on a road trip and we have been good friends ever since. I'm reminded of how a senseless attack on our fellow Americans brought us all together as a Country. There wasn't a single person who I spoke with that wasn't ready to do whatever was necassary to find who did this and take care of business the best way we knew how. I remember that this was when we all stood together as a nation and said to the World, "You are either with us or you're against us". We havn't called french fries, french fries ever since. The thing that I can't figure out now is how it is that a short 7 years later we are all at each others throats again. That the only thing I hear on the news these days is bickering and finger pointing between to very divided groups of Americans. He said, she said, like two kids on a schoolyard who are fighting over who's turn it is on the swings. I'm not saying we all need to gather together in a circle and hold hands and am not so naive as to think that we are all going to have the same viewpoints an ideaology, but what I'm witnessing in the media today is pathetic and the only alternative I have is turn it off. I heard someone say onetime 'From crisis comes strength' and it almost happened with 9/11, only we couldn't sustain it. I think it's safe to say that we are back to business as usual. The battles have been taken far enough away that even those who were ready to go to ends of the earth to hunt down those responsible have now found a way to point fingers again and somehow place blame because it's taking too long. I think our forefathers would be ashamed of us when you think about the sacrafices they made to keep our country free. I'm glad I get a phone call every year to remind me of the lives that were taken that day and the lives that have been freely given since then to make sure it never happens again. We can only hope.

As a side note: Cooper went on his first date last weekend. Homecoming dance. He's got a great group of friends and it sounded like they all had a good time. Leslie spoke in the Adult Session of stake conference last weekend and, of course, did a great job. She and our ward's YM president were both asked to speak about our YM's camp. They wanted to hear Leslie's perspective as she watched from the sidelines. Pres. Hales and Pres. Shepherd of the Stake Presidency also both spoke about thier experiences on the Mountain. It was a really good meeting. Looking forward to going to Bakersfield this weekend to hear Jordan speak prior to leaving on his mission.