Tributes

While I enjoyed my football today, the events of 2001 were never far from my mind. At the stadium, I bawled like a baby. My sunglasses hid it. There weren't any dry eyes so there was no shame. Even the football players shed tears. They helped the PD and FD unfurl our flag. We watched flyovers by our military and got to see an eagle in flight. It was all very, very touching. And it felt so...American. We were chanting U-S-A all the way up to the kickoff.

Back at my brother's after the win, we watched the Jets game. There were a few commercials that got us all teared up again. I wanted to share them with my blog peeps. They're too special to miss.

Here are some of my favorite commercial tributes:

Budweiser aired this originally during SuperBowl XXXVI as a tribute, but they didn't want to profit from the tragedy so they pulled it after that. They did a remake that they aired today and it teared me up every time I watched it.



This one was beautiful and amazing. You'll need tissue, I think.



I have been known to like movies that no one else finds much value in. 13th Warrior is one of those films. Though the plot has holes you could drive a semi through, it's still up there on my list because it features what I see as the epitome of true heroism - the Vikings knew what they were up against and knew that death most likely awaited them. They didn't meet it willing, but they didn't run from it either. They knew what had to be done and they did it.

I think this truly fits the NYPD and NYFD that day. One of the documentaries showed a large group of them in the lobby waiting to go up into the Towers that morning. There were thuds and the thuds were jumpers. I vividly remember one of the men saying, "If they're willing to jump, how bad is it up there?" I saw fear in the eyes of some of those men. Does that make any less brave? No. Being brave is not the absence of fear - it's doing what must be done despite the fear. They didn't HESITATE. They didn't WAVER. They knew it was bad and they still went up. They had a job to do. They were true heroes. They honor this country. Their memories honor this country.

My heart goes out to the families of the fallen.

What about you - how did you spend the ten year anniversary of September 11th? Did you honor the fallen with volunteer work? Did you spend it with friends and family?