Remember this day?

We need to remember....

I will never forget this day because it was the day I knew that I could never be without Brandon. He was the first one I thought about when I heard that we were being attacked by terrorists. I thought dreadful stuff like how would we find each other when everyone started panicking and going crazy. (We were in Utah. silly me.) I thought about how he would be drafted in the war and go fight these Barbarians. Then I thought of my life without him. About those families that lost their brother, sister, mother, father, son, daughter . . . spouse. And I cried and tried not to show those children in my preschool how sad I was.

We often forget how vulnerable we can be, how cruel the world really is, how much we need each other, and how TRULY blessed we are to be Americans. I want to say to all those who complain about how horrible America is and how this government stinks and how much they hate it there, (Now this is really mean, so I'm just warning you...) "LEAVE! Go to places in Cuba, Africa, North Korea, etc. etc. live there for a while and find out how blessed you REALLY are and how living in a place that you can actually say those horrible stabs is a blessing." I can go on and on, but I do just want to say that I still get choked up thinking about the feelings of that day and how glad I was when Bush announced that he would do everything in his power to make sure this wouldn't happen again. He fought when other Presidents would just side track the nation into something irrelevant. He's not perfect, but I feel I am loyal enough to always support my president no matter who is in office. I might not always like what he does, but I love what he stands for.

Let me conclude with the fact that I don't know how or why I was so lucky, but I am proud to be an American and I feel even more connected to the United States, though I don't even live there anymore. I guess when you are there you take more for granted. I feel somber this day to know that there are so many people in this world who HATE America. I feel blessed to know that we live in a nation UNDER GOD who, regardless of what others say, really does love others and wants to do the right thing. . . and there IS a "right" and a "wrong." period.

"I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him." ~Abraham Lincoln

"When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect." ~Adlai Stevenson