A Day Like No Other

Today will be a little different around here. I'm going to try and do my best to avoid the usual partisanship and will concentrate on stories related to 9/11, including a number of personal stories submitted by readers. My thanks to all of you who took the time to write in. I've enjoyed reading the submissions (though I may have to talk to a few of you about the concept of "paragraphs"....just kidding).

I encourage you to read them all - each has a little bit of a different take on the events, and I find it very interesting to see how different people reacted in different parts of the country.

As I did last year, I'd like to recommend two DVDs to you that are the best documentaries I've ever seen on the events of 9/11:



I own both of them and have watched them more than once. This is the best way I can think of to ensure that we never forget what happened, and the heroism of the first responders.

The film on the right is an especially compelling production. Two French brothers started out with the idea of creating a documentary about a probationary New York City firefighter who happened to be stationed near the World Trade Center where the brothers had a friend on the force. While filming a very routine call in a New York City intersection, the roar of a jet could be heard and the filmmaker panned up quickly and caught the final image of American 11 as it slammed into the North Tower. The images that follow are truly amazing. It was originally aired as a CBS special 6 months after the attack, and was shown again on the fifth anniversary. In my view, it should be shown every year.

Also, MSNBC, which hasn't gotten a lot of things right lately, will run a two-hour rebroadcast of the 9/11 events as they happened and were broadcast on NBC. The show will air at 10pm & midnight tonight (EDT). Last year they ran it in the morning at the actual time of the attacks, but this is better than nothing. The tension is palpable, even though you know what's about to happen.

I'll start with my story in the next post below, and then on to other readers and some interesting footage from the GOP convention's 9/11 tribute.