5 Years Later...

...and we're still scared shitless.

It has been 5 years since the events of that fateful day in the country, and I'm sure we all remember where we were when it happened. For me, I was in my car, listening to it all happen live on radio. I had just been loaned from a junior hockey team in Cincinnati to a team in Winnipeg. I was actually being sent home by Cincinnati to spend time with my family-- as the coaches knew I had spent most of my summer on the road, bouncing from team to team-- though they jumped at the idea to keep me on the ice, thus the loan to Winnipeg.

Little did we know that the world would be turned upside down. I was supposed to catch a friend for lunch in Indianapolis-- we cancelled that, though I was able to catch another friend in Champaign, Illinois before continuing on to my aunt's house in Peoria... where I stayed for the next three days.

I just remember filling up my car in Cincy, and thinking-- oh, this is just a joke... it's a "War of the Worlds" radio gag. By the time I had gotten back into my car, they had hit the Pentagon... and it hit me: GAME OVER. Of course, the early details of that plane hitting the Pentagon we sketchy-- the plane had gone down "behind" the Pentagon... Well, HOW FAR BEHIND? Did it like bounce over? Is it in a cornfield? (OK, that was the brief moment I was thinking of Langley, not the Pentagon) Is it in the Potomac?

A little bit of panic set in-- especially not being able to see what was transpiring. (And I want to complain about that-- I miss ALL the great TV events: I wasn't born for Lee Harvey Oswald getting shot, I was in school for the Branch Dividians, I wasn't around a TV until well after Columbine had settled down, and then I missed the awe of the towers collapsing.) Should I head back to my billet's house-- except, I no longer have a key, so if Brian is gone, I've got no choice but to leave. Do I try to go all the way back to Omaha? Do I just stay with my friend in Indy (at that point we hadn't cancelled lunch)?

Well, I just drove. And prayed. Well, I called my dad at work to tell him where I was and what my plans were, then I prayed. And I prayed that the didn't mobilize the militray-- thus closing the interstates-- until I got to Indy, because I could find my way to friends and family in Illinois from Indy.

For me, most of the rest of the day was uneventful-- I enjoyed my lunch with my friend, and I was happy to arrive safely in Peoria.

Back to present times, I find it all good to look back and think about where I was when this all went down, but I think we spend a little too much time thinking about the events of that day. Yes, it was a tragic day-- a day we will never forget. But we must move on.

Now, I wasn't alive when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. And I'm sure the thoughts following that attack were of the great conflict at hand. But I'm willing to bet, that in 1946 people in Honolulu were keeping an eye to the sky looking for more planes. But they never forgot that day, either. After all, it is a date that will live in infamy.

I am in no way saying that we should attempt to forget what happened. But we certainly can not run around, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because when you panic and fear what might happen-- the terrorists win. That's all they are out to do: SCARE THE FUCK OUT OF US.

I, for one, refuse to be scared. I may, however, be a little more carfeul about things and situations.

You see, we as Americans, made the same mistake in 2001 that we made in 1941: we got complacent. We didn't expect it to happen, and we didn't pay attention to the warning signs. Think about it. 2001 was eleven or twelve years after the end of the Cold War. We had defeated the Red Menace, and didn't have to fear the appocalypse by radiation. We're feeling good-- some issues in Kosovo, some issues in Iraq, some issues in Korea... but nothing major...

...and then, BOOM.

They hit when you least expect it. So please, for the love of God-- move on, but never forget. There is no need for wall-to-wall coverage of the stories, the memorials, the movies (movies? What the fuck? At least they waited a couple decades before Tora! Tora! Tora! was released), the tributes. Seriously, we're not forgetting. We know what happened. And we don't need exposes into who suffered the most out of all the people in America. All of us suffered. And for a few brief moments we all came together as a nation.

Why not build on that togetherness? Live for today. Sure, why not, carpe diem. Livestrong. Live for your nation and your brothers within. Move forward, but remember-- don't sulk.

And of course, God Bless America.