9.11

9/11. Ten years ago this morning(Eastern Standard Time).

So although I am here in Prague, I am remembering this day from 4200 miles away.

2606 men and women died in the twin towers on this day ten years ago. Sadly and quite frankly all we seem to remember and are constantly reminded of are only the 343 fire fighters who died, not the remaining 2263 other workers in those two buildings who also had families and friends, who were also doing their jobs that day as well.

We should remember everyone, not just emergency personnel.

Whole businesses LOST their entire staffs in one quick moment. They were doing their jobs too, and the ones that survived and escaped, you can bet, were also helping others escape the buildings.

Yes, those 343 were heroes.

But, Aren't the real heroes...people who help or save people they don't know and while not being paid to do it? Thought provoking perhaps.

I hope as we go into the 11th year of remembering this act of war, that people will stop and think about remembering everyone.

you see...I almost lost my brother that day. He was only a few blocks from the First Tower when it was hit by the first plane. He would have been on the 101st floor in a meeting in that first tower, in the New York Office of the Marsh, Inc., the company he worked for, just a couple floors from where that first aircraft impacted, if his airline flying in from Rochester, NY, had not been late landing at JFK that morning. His late plane coupled with slow traffic into the city saved his life.

This day is poignant for so many reasons. Remember this day... and all the Americans and Foreign Nationals whose death on that day were caused by those sick individuals with a warped sense of religion and and a warped sense of who God really is.

Photo: This Sunday morning, I was here in Petřín park...this is the US Embassy. The flag was flying at Half-mast(but you can't see it in the photo), and believe it or not, at 9am, as I was standing there, the Bells of St. Vitus Cathedral(the bell tower to the right of the Embassy tower) began peeling, in honor of September 11th. Very moving. Actually, Incredible.

and my apologies for these personal thoughts on a photo blog....