9-11 times 7!

It was six in the morning. The smell of orange blossoms and chlorine wafted into my open window. My mind was still engaged in a wonderful dream that involved a beach and a good book. All the sudden there was a piecing ringing noise on the beach. That didn't make sense. Slowly, the ringing noise grew louder as the beach grew fainter. Then I was there, in my bedroom in California. It was way too early for me to open my eyes. My skin burned from the peircing sun at the beach the day before, one more reminder that I was in reality. I was just going to let the caller hang up. After all who really calls at 6 in the morning, unless someone is either dead or dying. That did it; I shot out of my horizontal position like a bullet from a gun. As I reached for the phone, I ran my tired fingers through my knotted hair. My eyes still were not all the way open.
"Hello,” My voice was thick with sleep.
"Melissa, turn on the TV” my mom's voice was frantic. "Is it Israel?" I asked. Referring to my Dad's wayward crazy brother. "Just turn on the TV". While still in bed, I searched the blankets for the little black remote. I turned on the television just in time to see the second plane hit the trade center. My mind whirled. What kind of crazy movie am I watching? I flipped through the stations but all that they were showing was the burning building and the planes. Over and over again the planes. Then I watched in a stunned silence as the first building crumbled throwing grey dust and debris into the air. Am I really watching this? Is this really happening? I couldn't wrap my mind around the shocking scene.
That was 7 years ago. Just like a time warp, a blink of an eye, a whirlwind, it is now history. It is part of our past. But just like Pearl Harbor was to our grandparents, and the JFK assassination was to our parents, it will always and forever be a part of our generation. Defining this era. I remember a space shuttle fall out of the sky, and the Berlin Wall crumbling. And I will always remember where I was and what I was doing when the towers fell. I probably couldn’t forget even if I wanted to. And here we are seven years later in the mist of a great election, a historical one in many ways. We are alive to see an African American run for president as well as a mother of 5 running for vice president. In a society where most the time, I feel out of control. Bad economy, oil crisis, education reforms, ect..all I read about in the news is pigs wearing lipstick. Where did the unity go that 9-11 gave us? Democrat or Republican, does it matter? We are Americans. I will always stand tall when I see the flag, and I still cry when I hear a crowd singing the national anthem. I hope for our future and I believe that people are mostly good. I remember where I was on that fateful day, and I remember the lessons I learned. Despite the school yard tactics that the Presidential candidates are resorting too, I have faith in the American sprit. America is not just a nationality, it is a way of life and an outlook that no other nation can claim. I lived for a time outside the United States. And it just made me more proud of my nationality. I am a patriot threw and threw. No one can take away my American Dream. Not a terrorist flying a plane, and not a crazy messed up Presidental election. I am what makes America good. The dream of a better life and the oppertunities to achevie those dreams. I am American, and so proud of it.