Thank you for protecting our lives and dreams
Posted by Patrick Sweeney on Mon, Sep 12, 2011
The anniversary of 9/11 was marked yesterday with touching memorials, moving ceremonies and tears of longing for loved ones lost across the world. There was also cause for celebration in the knowledge that through discipline, diligence, and hard work the US and our allies found the heads of this horrific Medusa and cut them off - killing the lifeblood of the organization responsible for the travesty of 9/11.
Yesterday my family and I picked up a new puppy. I’ve got three kids. None of the kids- and certainly not the furball tumbling down the stairs with the lack of coordination only puppies posses - were alive on 9/11. I was driving down George Washington Parkway about two miless from the Pentagon when a plane flew low overhead. It seems like a lifetime ago. Yet we are now halfway through a generation that has only our stories of the events from that morning to remember.
My kids only know that many of my friends and family spend their days and nights fighting “bad guys”. They know that we have loved ones who can’t call in sick, aren’t able to surprise their wife with weekends away, and can’t go out partying and then sleep in the next morning. Because they are always on-call defending my children, and my dreams. And yours.
No matter how tough we have it, my kids understand there are thousands of men and women we don’t even know, and plenty of people we do, who are protecting a dream, a lifestyle and a freedom that only exists in the United States. These peopl may only see their family every six months, and will miss a lot of Christmas’ and birthdays.
To all the men and women who protect me and my family - thank you. Despite economic woes and political turmoil, America is still the land of dreams. Because of brave men and women working as far away as Afghanistan and as close as the local airport Americans can still make the most of their talents, dreams and opportunities.
Our responsibility is to do theses brave men and women proud and reach our full potential and help this generation that is already half-way to adulthood (who only know the bumper stickers, and t-shirts reminding us of 9/11) to never forget.