A nation came of age on that day

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 3, 2003

Two years have passed and we still find ourselves asking, "How did it happen."

Two years have passed and we still wonder, "Will it happen again."

Two years have passed and we go about our daily lives - keeping those thoughts in the backs of our minds.

The images of that day will be emblazoned in our memory forever. We'll never look at another airplane in the same way - no matter how "over it" we get. We'll never ride the elevator to the top of a high-rise building and feel as secure as we did the day before that day.

Our world has changed. Our nation has changed. Our lives have changed. Try as we might, we still remember what happened on that day.

We all remember where we were when we saw what happened on that day. When we first heard what happened on that day.

The events that happened on that day prompted a reaction never before seen by the world. We united - all of us - with a common cause, working in tandem to make sure that day never happened again, and that we overcame the events of that day.

For some of us, our lives truly were changed on that day. We either new someone who was a victim of the events of that day, or new someone else who new someone.

It affected us all - black, white, Asian, Arab. Yes, that day had no boundaries. In the words of one Canadian, "we are all Americans today."

And that's what we were. We were all Americans, working to try and figure out what to do, what our next move would be. How will we recover from that day.

And like the phoenix, we rose up from the ashes of that day and began the process of healing. We became a stronger, closer family that day.

The parties responsible for that day could never have fathomed the outcome of their actions. Instead of breaking our resolve, we unified and became an even stronger nation on that day.

Now, two years later as that day is relived in our minds on this day, we must never forget what sacrifices were made on that day and we must always remember what we stand for - as a nation - to never let that day happen again.

A nation came of age on that day, but that day will not change our path. Instead, we will overcome that day and continue down the path in this "great experiment" of democracy - where truth and real justice will win out - despite that day.