National Pride

If you ever, for some odd reason, want to make me cry...play Taps.  Just a couple of notes will do it.  Every. Single. Time.

If I want to make you cry, I bet I could by telling you to You Tube “Taps history told by John Wayne.”  Go ahead, see if you can get through it dry-eyed.  

Patriotism and national pride were big in our family when I was growing up.  Dad served in the military as did two or three uncles and Big Brother.  We always flew a flag during the day.  Dad would raise the flag when he went out to milk in the morning, and at night when dusk approached, one of us would help him lower it and fold it.  Pretty sure we can all, to this day, fold a flag in military precision.  Guess whose job it was to run and lower the flag when a thunderstorm came up.  Gee, Dad, thanks for making me grab this metal pole amid flashes of lightning!!

We were raised to stand for the flag during parades.  There was never a question that during the national anthem we would face the flag with hands on our hearts, hats off, and sing the words.  

What happened to that kind of respect?  I have watched professional sports events, on television and in person, and many of those players don’t sing or even mouth the words.  They don’t remove their hats.  I just want to slap them.  As much as they are getting paid, they can take two minutes and take their stupid hats off to respect the flag.  

Do you remember where you were in on this day in 2001?  Do you remember every single detail of how you heard about the airplanes flying into the Twin Towers?  I was driving to work on Highway 14 from Byron to Rochester.  I was on the phone with Captain telling him the guy at the elevator had been extremely rude to me when I dropped off our payment on my way to work.  I heard the radio deejay say there was  news report that a plane hit the first tower.  

I hung up with Captain, and listened in a jaded manner...thinking it was a spoof on some late night TV show skit from the night before.  Then the deejay said a second plane hit the second tower, and I knew in that instant that there was something very serious going on.  And I was scared.

As the details unfolded over the following days, there was a unity in this country that was unprecedented.  What happened to that unity?  

As we stop today to remember, I’m sure I am not the only one who will shed a tear or two or many for all those who lost their lives on 9/11.  More, I hope I am not the only one who will say a prayer for all those who gave their lives to help.  Military, law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical staff, or ordinary people on a plane.  And to all those who continue to serve our country to protect us, Thank you, may God Bless You always and keep you safe.  Amen.