9/11.

I could not let this day go by without posting a thought or two about the significance of September 11. I cannot recall many - if any - events that are defined merely by the mention of it's calendar name. September 11 means different things to different people. For me, it represents that one stand out moment that stole away the innocence of my generation. Every generation has that moment. The one where you know exactly where you were at the time you heard. Being a child of the 80's it's very fair to say my generation was not as innocent as that of my parent's. I suppose every generation changes a bit from the previous one. And even though my generation had scaled down from some of it's indulgence, we still were basking in the light of unheard of prosperity, opportunity and freedom. I think on that day, it changed. In a few short hours, we were changed. We had witnessed a horror we never saw coming. We found ourselves questioning what we thought we knew about prosperity and freedom. However, for a brief moment in the days after we were united.

On this day in 2008, a point where we as Americans are quite divided - in an election season, we hear that the politicians are going to take the day off from mud slinging and unite. While the intention may be noble, I know that tomorrow they'll go back to business as usual and continue to divide instead of unite. In 2001, when the congress stood in unison and sang "God Bless America", I knew it wouldn't last forever, but I was hopeful. I was hopeful that the people would stay unified and hold those in office to account to do the same. I knew that couldn't last forever either.

My post today is not about politics. Today, it doesn't matter to me at all what political party you support, your stance on the war or your thoughts on U.S. foreign policy. Hopefully, we will all take a moment today and remember the 3000 people that lost their lives just doing what they always did. Living their lives. Some never knew what happened, some had to wait in despair and some rushed in and sacrificed their own lives to save others. We are a good people, we Americans. It seems like we soar in the midst of crisis. My hope is we will soar to make our moments count, to treat others as we would like to be treated and that we will not wait for another crisis to be at our best.

O.K., this is my "preachy" moment for the year. Know that I'm preaching mostly to myself. Have a blessed day......