Where were you on September 11, 2001 | Eastern North Carolina Now

   "I wrote this early this morning (9/11/2016) without much thought or contemplation.  It is just a reflection of that day fifteen years ago when were attacked by an ideology that does not agree with the concept that every one is entitled to their own opinion.  I have no answers or solutions, just a feeling which I offer without regret"  Tony Adams sometimes known as Bobby Tony.

   I have no idea or memory where I was when I heard and saw the events of the world Tower and Pentagon tragedies.

   I have a vivid memory of my first notice of the JFK assignation, but none of the specifics of the September 11 attack.  In reflecting back I think it was because it all happened on live TV in  2001.  I have seen the replays a thousand times so it could be that my memory is affected by the differing technologies of the two eras. 

   In any event it makes little difference where I or you were. It matters a whole lot where the police and fireman were who rushed into the building to save people.  It matters a whole lot where people who should have been in the building were but missed being there for whatever reason. It matters a whole lot where the people who perished in that collapse were and the dead  in the Pentagon were. It matters a whole lot where the people were on Flight 93 who banded together to prevent perhaps another building crash.

   It also matters a whole lot how we as a people reacted to the attack.  Here are two reactions that help cover the emotions.

One is a reflective account by Alan Jackson Where Were you

The other is an angry account byToby Keith Courtesy of the Red White a and Blue

   Now we all seem to be engaged in a nationwide debate on the meaning of a flag and whether we should stand up or sit down when the national anthem is played.    I know where I stand and I don't much give a crap whether you stand or sit or kneel.  That is the American disposition now to question if we were ever great, or will we ever be great again.  Perhaps it is all about what we do as individuals that is more important than what our sports figures or politicians do. I hope we never lose the freedom to make those choices to "Stand or Sit." I also hope we never lose the ability to kneel down and ask our God for guidance.  

   Nevertheless, one thing is clear to me.  With all its faults, The United States of America is still a Shining City on the Hill, that is willing to examine and change as we make the journey toward the ideal created long ago by flawed men but they were visionaries who saw the potential for a better way to govern ourselves.