Remember Us by Diane Riegal – 9/11 Tribute
September 11, 2001.. to quote FDR… “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”. I remember where I was that day, I remember the horror I felt as I watched everything unfold on tv. I actually felt real fear as we were alerted that Ft Carson was being locked down. Ft Carson had actually been an open post before that day… anyone could drive on, no ids had to be presented. That was the moment everything became real for me. The safety and security I had felt being home in this country was over.
The losses from that day still continue every day. Not just the ones in our memories, but the after effects. We have people dying from gasses and other ailments just from being around the towers, we have troops dying in Afghanistan. We have troops, fire fighters, cops, civilians who every day have to live with the injuries they sustained that day and from the after effects from that one day. I know too many of them.
Even the innocent victims of Afghanistan and Iraq have felt the pain, death and grief of that one day. Yes folks, no matter how you feel about the people in the Middle East, there ARE good people there, they have children and want to live their lives safely and with freedoms too. Some of us have met them, some of us have merely glimpsed them on a tv screen. Some of us have only heard stories.
As you reflect on this one day, September 11th, remember that some of us feel it EVERY DAY. Every time one of us feels pain in a limb that isn’t there anymore, or looks in a mirror and sees that their features don’t exist, every time one of us turns to hug a loved one, to find they are still gone from this world. Remember them every day, because they relive that one moment in time, suspended eternally in their minds, every second of every day. To some of us, the memory is more then just an anniversary day once a year.
There has been so many songs written about 911, great and beautiful tributes. For me, there is one that stands out above the others. This song reflects the minds of every trooper who has to be in a war zone today or has ever been in one, the cops, the paramedics and the fire fighters who are still here fighting the good fight keeping our streets and lives safe. This song reflects the child who has lost a parent due to this tragedy, every wife, husband, mother, father, sister or brother who has felt a loss from this one moment suspended in time.
Remember Us by Diane Riegal – 9/11 Tribute Song
Verse 1
I have seen the dark of evil
I have heard a distant storm
Felt a trembling in my spirit
As I faced the cold of dawn
What I once thought strong now crumbled
In an empty cloud of dust
Will we stand with the forgiven
Remember usVerse 2
Hear the voices of Your children
As they cry out on the street
In the ruins and the ashes
Many miles upon their feet
Searching through the haze for answers
And on knees with eyes above
Will we stand with the forgiven
Remember usChorus 1
Remember us for we are weary
Living in a world of pain
Remember us each time we walk away
Come and take us home again
And every time we put our faith in things
We should not trust
Will we stand with the forgiven
Remember usVerse 3
I see a child without a mother
I see a father with no son
I see a picture of a smiling face
Have you seen this missing one
And through every tear and broken heart
Oh how we need Your love
Will we stand with the forgiven
Remember usChorus 2
Remember us for we have wandered
Down a road so far from You
Remember us and open up our eyes
To Your mercy and Your truth
And every time we put our faith in things
We should not trust
Will we stand with the forgiven
Remember us(BRIDGE)
It was on a tree You spoke these words of truth
Father please forgive they know not what they doVerse 4
Do Your tears fall from the heavens
As You look down from above
I know all You ever want is just to show
Your grace and love
But I wonder how long will it be
Before You say enough
Will we stand with the forgiven
Remember us
Good post and good song.
I remember where I was too, I was working at a newspaper at the time when word just came in of the first plane. I saw it all from a unique perspective of the video wall.
Live broadcasts from dozens of different countries all watching. I remember the dazed expressions, never seen the editing room so still… like people were afraid to blink. It all seemed unreal even after the second impact.
When the first Tower came down it was like a spell was broken, it then hit home what just happened… How many people had just died in a single breath.
That day not only America changed but the world.
We had all been sleeping and suddenly woken up to find that the “barbarians” were already past the gate.
I say “barbarians” in that fashion because that was one of the great crimes commited that day, it sowed seeds of distrust throughout a multicultral nation that the person sitting next to you could be a killer.
Its been 12 years since that day but people still feel that fear when somebody fitting the “profile” steps onto a bus, plane or metro.
When the day comes that people dont give that a single thought is when you we will have finally beaten those behind these attacks.