343

343 a number that most people, even in my generation, can not tell you what it stands for.

343 is the number that will always rock to the soul of me no matter how many things happen in my life.

343 is the number of firefighters lost in 9-11. i don't know why this rocks me now, 6.5 years later. why does 9-11 rock me to my core now.

This is why, i never really investigated 9-11 personally. i took it for face value on TV. I didn't know anyone in NY at the time, i have no personal connection to what happened other than being an outraged American. but now with my pending trip to the east coast i am rocked by what 9-11 really meant to me.

i am a patriot. With everything that is in me, i love America just as much as any other patriot. i will not leave and i will always fight for the freedom of my country. so i look at 9-11 through different eyes now.

i look through tearful eyes. though eyes that for the first time since the attack look and see that life that was lost. the brave men and women who gave all for this nation. the hero's who were lost, the men and women who were never lacking on courage or honor stepped on the to the floors of the WTC that morning knowing they might not step out.

343 the number of firefighters who gave their lives to world. 343 families that lost a son or daughter or husband or wife or father or mother or partner or lover or friend or all of the above. 343 heroes gone, but never forgotten.

I am not one to quote President Bush for anything, but his quote at the dedication of these brave Firefighters strikes me, he said "the time for morning may be over, but the time for remembering never will be."

i have dishonored these men and women by not paying attention to what happened that day. i just filed it under attack and the loss of American life. but 9-11 was much more than that. it was the day that will ring forever in history as the day the world cried. the day where 343 normal men and women catapulted themselves into the eyes of the world as the protectors of freedom. it was no longer the police or the military, it was everyday firefighters who stepped up and gave all for the lives of the innocent. without pride or prejudice, the ran in never to be seen again.

I now realized how i have not honored these men, and have made that change. we all need to step back a see what we have done to remember these heroes. we all show respect in different ways, but please i beg you, never forget.

this isn't a plea to never forget 9-11 for i am sure everyone for the rest of there days will remember where they were on that morning, but i would like to remember more than just a day that the US was attacked, it was the day when real heroes, like the ones you read about, walked there last step and gave their life to this country, not for personal gain, but to save someone else.

Guts like that don't come standard with everyone. Courage like that is a trait that should be honored and respected with every breath, every wave of the flag and every tear that is seen over this day.

I have new respect for firefighters, they are the true heros of our lives. so as i roll into NY to see ground zero and the 9-11 memorial wall, i will hold a moment of remberence for these brave few who gave everything, and make sure my life is served making sure that they didn't die in vain.