Today is a day of nostalgia. It is a day about remembering the past and the first major historical event of our lifetime. Before September 11, 2001, the most important day in many of our lives was the day we lost the Challenger. It was a horrible day when a crew was lost in front of our very eyes. We couldn't have been more than eight that day. Twenty years later, this event seems minor in contrast to the events of September 11th. It was a terrible day that change each and every American.

I won't usually share any political views in my rant. I'm a democrat in a family of republicans. I keep my views to myself and respect the views of those who don't agree with me. No matter what your beliefs are, this anniversary is one that brings feelings of regret, of fear, of terror, of hope. My father fought in Vietnam--deep in the trenches where men saw things they should never need to know. I know it was their hope that our generation would never know this fear, what it feels like to send people to war, to battle with the unseen enemy. I wish they were able to have their dream of our innocence come true. Knowing three people in two years who have been active in the military was not their dream for me. Kuwait and Iraq were not the places they wanted me to know in the same way they hated the words Korea and Vietnam. On this scary day, this anniversary of horror, I say thank you to the people who are willing to put their lives on the line to fight in the war. While I have very little respect for fighting for oil, the respect I have for people like Ross, Jeniffer and Brian are something I never imaged knowing personally. Men and women like you make our world a safer place, a place where I can rant, daily, about whatever nonsense enters my mind, an fight to make it so a women on the other side of the world, hidden behind her veil, can dream of my life-to be a woman with an advanced education, a wonderful husband, a TiVo, and the freedom to rant about politics and football, gossip and war, and pride in a nation. May we always have this freedom and never live in fear.