9/11 One of the Saddest Days in My Life I Will Never Forget

Every year when 9/11 comes around I find myself day dreaming a lot, it's like I'm in second grade all over again just sitting there motionless and wishing I had the power to redo that day over again and be a real American Hero and save everyone. You know, like that book 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'.  9/11 is the day I lost my innocence. I thought this would never happen here, surely not in America the greatest country in the universe.

Since 9/11 everything is suspect, I question everything now, don't you? Whether I'm on an airplane, bus or cruise ship I study everybody. That is sad, what happen to our trust in our fellow man? I wonder is it dead or just dormant? Will it ever return? Events like 9/11 I think shape and kind of 'time-stamp' us. We will always remember what we were doing when, fill in the blank.

I remember where I was, and what I was doing the day President John f. Kennedy was assassinated. I was 4 years old and just about to eat lunch when, I remember seeing my mother start crying uncontrollably and dad coming home early from the Air Force Base in El Paso, Texas. We watched TV into the night with a house full of neighbors coming and going some crying some in disbelief. We were one of the few houses on the block that had a television set.

I remember where I was, and what I was doing the day that Elvis Presley died. I heard the news while driving my root-beer brown Chevrolet Camaro. I was going home from Abilene High, the radio turned up loud when I heard KRBC radio disc-jockey John Frost and newsman Downing Bolls break into a song and say "we regret to report, the King of rock and roll Elvis Presley is dead, I repeat Elvis Presley is dead. We are awaiting further details on how this is possible. In the mean time let's remember the King, here's Elvis Presley." I was a part-time disc jockey at KRBC so I drove straight to the radio station to see what I could do to help.

I remember where I was, and what I was doing the day that the space shuttle exploded within seconds of take-off. I was getting ready to go to KEAN to start my day. Back then I was an afternoon air-personality and I didn't have to be there till 12 noon. As I'm getting ready I've got the TV on in the bedroom and I'm watching CNN and the as usual "boring, incident less take off". When all of a sudden the voice says "Challenger go with throttle up, roger go with throttle up". Moments later the voice from NASA say "flight controllers listen very carefully at the situation, obviously a major malfunction". I dressed as quickly as possible then I drove straight to the radio station to see what I could do to help.

I remember where I was, and what I was doing the day that my mother passed away. The skies were dark and cloudy the temperature was in the 50's and I was at Hendrick Medical Centers Hospice wing. I held her tiny little hand that seemed to soft and frail. I remember thinking how these little old lady hands had moved mountains and how this hand that I'm holding was about to shake hands with the creator of heaven and earth and hold the hands of Jesus. Aside from my mothers passing 9/11 is the 2nd saddest day in my life, it's a day that will forever chart the future of this great country and continue to effect the changes and choices we as a people will make.

I remember where I was, and what I was doing the day that some terrorist stole our innocence. On 9/11, I was working my morning show when I saw, what looked like smoke billowing out of one of the world trade centers on Fox news channel. I turned up the volume, only to hear what had happened, when I saw in disbelief the second plane hit the other world trade tower. This doesn't happen in 'my America', after all we are the Home of the Brave Land of the Free, right? After gathering more information, I turned on my microphone and began broadcasting the words I remember to this day "I regret to report that two commercial airplanes have just crashed into the World Trade Centers. That would last days, with no music only news pouring in as fast as our brains could consume it. I was the day all our brains were time-stamped, because we know where we were and what we were doing when, you can fill in the blank.

So today, on this day 9/11 I have a song that keeps playing over and over in my head, it's by Seals and Crofts and it's called 'We Will Never Pass This Way Again'. I lost my innocence, sleep and trust. I'm not alone though, my fellow broadcasters here at Town Square Media in Abilene Remember 9/11.