White rose on the 9/11 Memorial, New York City, New York

9/11 We Remember ~ Honoring Our Local Heroes ~ 23 Years

Screen Shot of Live Coverage from ABC News with Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer

9.11.2001

23 Years we have remembered.

I was struck by a post I saw online this week. It read something similar to this:

On this day… 23 years ago 246 people woke up in preparation for their morning flights. 2,997 people woke up in preparation for work this morning. 343 firefighters prepared for their morning shift. 60 police officers prepared for their morning patrol. 8 paramedics prepared for the morning shift. None of them saw past 10:00 am September 11, 2001.

Today, We Remember

This morning, I went back to the original footage from ABC News with Charles Gibson and Diane Sawyer to watch it again. You can watch it as well below.

Possibly, like me, some of you remember that moment. I remember sitting at Baptist Bible College in the administration building with a friend, just outside Mrs. Shirley Hackler’s office. Doing some morning errands before class as a faculty member, I was walking through that building just as the first building was hit. A staff member, Mike Brinson, asked if I had seen the news, so I walked over to watch with him on the television. We were watching Good Morning America live as the second plane hit the World Trade Center.

In the live footage below as I watched it again this morning, I was reminded of the absolute fear deep in my soul as these events unfolded. The coverage switched from New York to the White House, then to the Pentagon, and finally back to New York as both buildings eventually fell. We watched folks pouring out of the White House down the driveway. The late Peter Jennings took over coverage from Gibson and Sawyer. All three of them struggled to put words to it. I still today lose my breath watching it.

On that day eventually we would find out that 2,977 people died. Over 300 firefighters in those early moments (343), plus 71 total law enforcement officers. Since then, over 250 other firefighters have died from complications due to that day. In fact, in the days since September 11, 2001, by 2014, over 1,400 rescue workers who responded to the scene in the days and months after the attacks have since died.^[1] On September 11, 2001, over 1,000 children in an instance lost their firefighter dads as they fought the blaze.

We remember.

Local Heroes

Today as I type, there are men and women and K-9s all over America who continue to wait for the call or alarm bell. These local heroes wait for us to need them. As we do, they spring into action. They risk their own health and well-being to serve us. Firefighters. EMS personnel. Police officers. All waiting to risk everything to serve us.

When most people run from danger, these brave, local heroes run into danger in order to selflessly and sacrificially serve their neighbors, most of whom they do not even know.

We are grateful.

May it never be said of one of us that we do not stand up in unity and loudly proclaim that we both appreciate and honor those who served on 9/11/2001.

Further, may it never be said of one of us that we do not stand up in unity and loudly proclaim how grateful we are for those who have served us and continue to serve us every day since.

Our local heroes, thank you.

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