It's far harder to comprehend the amazing strength, courage, determination and dedication of the men and women of New York City's\u00a0Fire Department, Police Department,\u00a0and Transit\u00a0Police.\u00a0\u00a0They charged into what must have been a nightmare beyond their worst imaginings.\u00a0\u00a0All of them saved lives, but not all of the life-savers were able to preserve their own.<\/p>\n
And the men and women who went to work that day at the Twin Towers and in the Pentagon - many of them didn't make it back home either.\u00a0 None of the victims on the four\u00a0planes survived, but one group of the victims - on Flight 93\u00a0- transformed themselves into heroes who charged the cockpit.\u00a0 They thwarted the terrorists' intent to kill innocent men and women in the US Capitol and they saved the building.\u00a0 It stands today, still, as a monument to the greatest country on earth and it stands as an eternal tribute to those heroes of Flight 93.<\/p>\n
Thousands of America's finest men and women died\u00a0on 9\/11\/2001.\u00a0 They were all husbands, wives, lovers, children, parents, grandchildren, or \u00a0grandparents.\u00a0And they all died for no other reason than that they were Americans.\u00a0 Yes, some fine citizens of many countries died on 9\/11.\u00a0 Their deaths were, however, collateral damage - which may, if anything, make their loss even harder for their loved ones.\u00a0 I don't mean to diminish their deaths, but the target of the terrorists' attack was the American victims.<\/p>\n
Again, the Americans who died that day left us only because they were Americans.\u00a0 None of them was specifically targeted. They just happened to be\u00a0in the\u00a0wrong place at the wrong time - except for\u00a0the fire fighters, NYPD Police and Transit Police.\u00a0 All of the rescuers charged into harm's way. But what had America done to earn such hatred? Nothing. Nothing at all.<\/p>\n
The evil terrorists are\u00a0from a group of\u00a0people who adhere to an ideology that holds nothing as sacred as the belief that their way is the only way.\u00a0 They hate the way Americans live and love and they resent the way Americans succeed and persevere.\u00a0 They hate most what Americans love most - freedom.\u00a0 They wanted to destroy us on 9\/11 and they want to destroy us today. They haven't succeeded and they won't succeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But in the decade since 9\/11 all of us have had to live with the memory of that day.\u00a0 And too many wives, husbands, lovers, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents and friends have had to do something that may have been even harder than\u00a0charging into those buildings. They've had to survive and carry on when they really wanted to sit down, give up and stop.\u00a0 All of them are heroes and heroines.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Too many great Americans died that day.\u00a0 None of them died in vain.\u00a0 And I'm writing this\u00a0blog to say that they may have died, but they are not gone.\u00a0 They will never be gone.\u00a0 As long as we carry all of those people in our hearts, they will all stay here with us.\u00a0 Those we love never leave us unless we let them go.<\/p>\n
Ceremonies will be\u00a0held\u00a0to honor and mourn\u00a0the loss of the\u00a0victims, and to remember the day that America can never be allowed to forget.\u00a0 As those ceremonies are held, and later, as\u00a0we visit the memorial sites, we should all look around and we'll see them there, standing proud and vibrant and alive.\u00a0 They will comfort those who mourn them and they will embrace those who love them.\u00a0 And as long as we teach our children about 9\/11, the victims will continue to live as victors who have already outlasted one of\u00a0those who hated America most. They\u00a0will continue to live long after the last adherent of the philosophy of hate has\u00a0died unmourned and soon forgotten.<\/p>\n
As long as we love them and keep them with us, neither America nor their loved ones will ever lose the 9\/11 victims.\u00a0 We can keep those lost on 9\/11 with us\u00a0as victors,\u00a0kept with us forever by the greatest force in all of the universe -- love.<\/p>\n
I hope that the families feel their loved ones' presence, their comfort and their strength as we reach\u00a0the tenth anniversary of their deaths and that they continue to hold onto their loved\u00a0ones as the families strive, survive, succeed and endure.\u00a0 Those\u00a0who passed\u00a0in the tragedies of\u00a0 9\/11\/2001 \u00a0will be with us\u00a0on 9\/11\/2011.\u00a0 If we keep them in our hearts\u00a0the victims of\u00a09\/11\u00a0will be with us still as the first decade\u00a0becomes the second, the third, the tenth and the twentieth.<\/p>\n
Love is the force that will always vanquish hate and that is why those we love never leave us, unless we let them go. So\u00a0we will\u00a0never really lose\u00a0those 9\/11 victims turned victors.\u00a0 As always, the real losers are those who choose hatred and terror rather than love and\u00a0liberty.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/Image09102011111500-225x300.jpg\" "\\"The")
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Normally I blog about the world of romance novels. Many of those blogs talk about the heroes I love to write. Without fail,\u00a0the heroes of my books are strong, determined and courageous men. By the end of my Forever Series all of the heroes must face and overcome their worst fear for love. I like ...continue reading \"9\/11’s Undying Legacy\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1830"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1837,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1830\/revisions\/1837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quackingalone.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}