9/11 Only time I saw the U.S. Come together.

It was September 9 2001. I was 3 years in the Army National Guard and a month away form turning twenty one when the Twin Towers fell. I knew at first it was not a fluke that two planes flew into them. I got a call from my Sargent that day telling me I needed to get prepared to be called up. The anxiety of not knowing what would come next was weighing down on me. I looked up in the sky to see nothing, but clouds. All planes were grounded. Just sky. I said to myself "This must be what it was like to look up back before people ever took flight". It was quite peaceful.

I was activated and first sent to a small base in MD to qualify on my rifle.  Everyone had their mind on friends and family.  Where we would go? How this country would handle this?  We didn't have Facebook or  any social media at all to know what was going on outside of our group.  Just a few cellphones and those ancient pay phones that you will see in a museum.  People were still being rescued out of the rubble as we mounted our Humvee to go our next destination Fort Bragg.  That is when I saw the Most amazing thing I have ever seen.

 We went through a bunch of small towns full of people waving flags.  Cheering us on like it was a parade.  Black, White, Gay Straight.  It didn't matter who you were that day.  No one cared a single bit about their differences.  They knew only one thing.  That we were all Americans and we were not alone in this world.  We were all hanging out of the windows and standing out of the top hatch of the vehicles.    Everywhere we went it was the same deal.  It was amazing to see all these people come together.  The only time in my life I have ever seen this first hand.  

 Now we sit here 16 years later divided into little groups.  Begging for attention.  Blaming everyone else, but ourselves for our shortcomings.  I hate to say it, but we kind of need another 9/11 just to keep us in check.  Why do we only forget about our cheesy bickering when disasters happen?  It is pretty fucking said if you ask me.  George W Bush once said that the American people don't  know what they want, when he didn't realize the Microphone was still on.  I laughed, but in reality he was right.  We don't know what we want.  We let others decide what we want.  That is not freedom.

 I didn't write this for political reasons.  So please don't troll this with political bullshit.  Whether 9/11 was an inside job or not?  I don't care.  It actually brought people together.  For a small amount of time, but it shows that we still can.