We will never forget. These are the words that everyone in the United States has heard for the past 10 years. Words that make me think of that horrible sight of planes crashing into the World Trade Center and wondering if could such an attack could happen to us again.
I was sitting in the auditorium Friday listening to retired New York Police Department Officer Tom Denni tell about being a first-responder in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. He was showing an audience of social studies students pictures of where the World Trade Center used to stand. Denni talked to us about how citizens were running away from the disaster, but how he and thousands of other of firefighters and police officers were running toward the burning buildings.
Although I was not in New York at the time, the sight of peoples lives being taken away for no reason scared me and all of the nation.
When Osama Bin Laden was assassinated in May, Navy Seals found documents suggesting that on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11 there would be another terrorist attack. It made me wonder if the we ever will have to go through another day like Sept. 11.
Officer Denni has a daughter who attends West Shore, and she is on the dance team with me. For a brief moment, Denni talked about how I shouldn’t just thank him for his unselfish acts, but also his daughter, Erica.
“My daughter was 4-years-old when 9/11 happened,” he said. “She has always seen me as a sick man.”
It made me realize that more than just the New York police and firefighters sacrificed for us. Their families and friends sacrificed — and continue to sacrifice — so much for us even now.
We should never forget Sept. 11, 2001.
