You Never Know What Tomorrow Brings

On Monday, September 10th, 2001, my daughter was a toddler. My son had not yet been born. I went to sleep after watching the Denver Broncos open up their new stadium by beating the New York Giants 31-20 on Monday Night Football. 

The next morning the world changed before I woke up at 7 AM (10 AM EDT). My cell phone was going off, but I let the calls go to voicemail. Wrong number, I assumed. I’m making coffee in the kitchen and I look out the window. Not a single plane in the sky. (We lived right next to LAX and it was eerily quiet.)

I turned on the TV and minutes later the North Tower of the World Trade Center collapsed.

By the end of the day on September 11th, 2001, 2,752 people were killed in New York. 184 died at The Pentagon and 40 crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 246 people died on airplanes. The youngest was 2-year-old Christine Hanson, on her first trip to Disneyland. The oldest was 85-year-old Robert Norton, a Navy Vet of World War II.

You never know what tomorrow brings, so remember 9/11 and honor those who died, but there’s no need to dwell in the past. We should make every day count, by never taking your life, your family, and your freedom for granted.

My only regret from those days is that we could never make the unity we felt after 9/11 last. In the days and months after that terrible tragedy, we rallied. We came together. We picked up the pieces. We cared for the families and each other. For a brief shining moment, Americans were truly united. The police officers, firefighters, and EMS workers were hailed as heroes.

Twenty-three years later, we are not united. How do we get back there? How can America unite again? 

For me, it’s one small step. We need heroes again. We need to thank those who serve us and put them on a pedestal. If you see a police officer, or firefighter, or soldier, or teacher, or nurse, or anybody else who serves, thank them for their service. You never know what tomorrow brings. 

The person who serves you today might be the one who saves you tomorrow.