Special Editorial: America United By: Andy Ramirez   Firefighters raise 'Old Glory' atop World Trade Center rubble. Photo by Venice Bureau/ZUMA Press. (©) Copyright 2001 by ZUMA Press September 10, 2001 I went to bed talking about things ahead of us and of our plans being made. Optimistic about life and all it holds. When I awoke, the world was different, changed perhaps never to be the same again. The date symbolic with our global emergency hotline which is 9-11. My parents and my grandmother often spoke of global events that changed their lives as I grew up. For my grandmother, at the time 24 and a mother of 4, it was the passing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. To her, FDR was HER president. He led our nation during the Depression Era and World War 2. For my parents it was the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother US Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Both, in their 20s, often said when the President died they lost their innocence, and when Bobby died, their hope. The world was different afterwards for them because of the passing of these 3 great leaders of our nation. There have been many events in my lifetime to choose from. The assinations of RFK and Martin Luther King, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the taking of the U.S. Embassy in Iran, Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster and Gulf War each could be the event of my lifetime. When you explore each event, there is merit for all to be that great and significant event. Sadly, the great event of my lifetime, and I feel any American Citizen's lifetime has now etched itself in the history books. The date 9-11 (or September 11, 2001). That is the day which will forever change America. Our country, our nation and more importantly our home sadly joined the list of many other nations that were hit by an act not only of terror, but of epic cowardice. The perpetrators seized and hijacked 4 commercial airliners and after gaining control rammed two of them into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, New York City. The third was slammed into the Pentagon. It is easy to understand the Pentagon attack as it is a military command and control installation. The fourth jet taken down by it's passengers after a struggle. It is unconscionable to have imagined the means used. Four civilian jets with innocent passengers, not military aircraft, or military personnel, but just ordinary people who boarded planes to travel to a US city for their own purposes. We all have had the images burned into our memories of jets crashing into the World Trade Center, and Pentagon while watching in horror as this happened. We also have forever the sight of watching these great towers come crashing down. We have all since felt the horror, pain, anguish, fear and sadness fill our hearts, minds and souls. But we have also maintained hope, prayers and vigil for those who are still searching for the lost and missing. We prayed for those who perished and for the families of all. Indeed we have ALL prayed for our nation since, and will continue to do so as we prepare for war. We all witnessed the courage demonstrated by the personnel of the FDNY, NYPD and numerous agencies, and private citizens helping out. We have seen the leadership of NY Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Governor George Pataki. We have listened to our President George W. Bush and other leaders prepare our country and its citizens for war, while comforting the families who lost loved ones and the People of NY City. President Bush himself gave the finest speech since the days of the Kennedys and FDR as he informed our nation and world of how we intend to seek and eventually will gain our justice. Many stories that have since been told of lives and heroes hit home with me personally. As many know, I have Multiple Sclerosis, that for lengthy walking distances requires I use a wheelchair. As I listened, I heard many stories of how people demonstrating courage beyond words by helping wheelchair bound victims of this attack. Without regard for their own safety, carried people down 60 flights of stairs to a place where they would be safe. I marveled and felt such pride in our fellow Americans. But than I heard the story of a man named Ed.   In Memory of those perished and missing on 9-11. On the 27th Floor of one of the twin towers, a man named Ed was working along with a friend who was a paraplegic in the same office. There was no way to get the friend down the flights of stairs, so Ed told the friend's nurse she could go home and escape. Ed than held the phone for his friend to call his family and say his goodbye. Than Ed called his family. Shortly thereafter Ed and his friend he chose to stay with died upon the collapse of the Tower. It makes me so proud to know there are people who would stay with a friend and go down together, rather than let one die alone. God Bless Ed. September 10th, my late grandmother's birthday, we went to bed in America, a divided people, nation and society. Divided by age, gender, color, ethnicity, creed, beliefs, God, and party. After the initial shock, we emerge a nation no longer divided for we now stand as one. No longer do we see flags of other nations in honor of the ancient lands of our fathers and mothers. Instead we see "Old Glory" raised proudly on the streets, cars, buildings, businesses and homes. The way of those murdering extremists are to distort the views of Allah, Islam and the teachings of their Prophet Muhammed and take a religion of peace, welcome and love and replace it with hatred, destruction and murder. Consider history and the bible. Abraham spend a night with a handmaiden and begat Ismael, and later with his wife Sarah begat Isaac. Ismael the father of the Arabs and Isaac the father of Hebrews. Born of the same father, they are both ancient brothers, but that too is long forgotten and what continues is sibling war and bloodshed between brethren. And now our people here in America have paid their toll. Those who seized our civilian aircraft and took the lives of our innocent people would never understand America. We are a melting pot of ideas, beliefs, peoples and vision. You cannot put into words what our nation means for it's something that just is. But all that is gone, our innocence, our comfort, and our divisions within our nation. For now we are not an angry, lawless mob. But a nation united in its grief, who is preparing for another war. A war that will be different from any other as this was an attack not on a military installation on a territorial island 2200 miles from our mainland. This attack was here on American soil and demolished our buildings and claimed the lives of innocent citizens and residents from many places. While many nations lend their support and grieve with us for their losses as well as our own, they need to understand as we do now. Before it was their nations, and their buildings and their citizens. Now it is our own here across two oceans. Our resolve is strong. We are filled with determination. We will likely lose many more lives through our armed forces but our resolve is steadfast. You attacked our nation with unarmed civilians. And now its your turn, with God's blessings, guidance and light to be brought to justice. The extemists claim to call for a "Jihad" or "Holy War", but the ranting extremists will soon find themselves in the middle of a real war, and the lives of our missing and dead will soon be avenged. Each piece of military hardware and ordinance used and fired will bear the thought of an innocent victim who perished on 9-11. And somewhere along the way, two children ages 2 & 4 from one of the planes and Ed will soon be avenged. Before "9-11" we were many and divided. Now we are one and united. We are The United States of America. God Bless

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