Thought For The Day - Am I the only one who sees the irony in 9/11 and the 911 emergency line used all over the U.S.?

On this, the fifth anniversary of 9/11, I would like to add my experience of 9/11 to the legions of accounts available on the web and elsewhere. Being a native New Yorker, this event has special significance for me.

I was in Curacao waiting in line at the local phone company to get a phone line for the house we had rented there for a few weeks. They had a TV monitor with CNN on it. I hadn't been paying much attention to it until I heard someone saying something about the World Trade Towers. I then turned my attention to the TV where I saw smoke billowing out from the first tower and thought I must be watching a movie. But no, I was watching this live. Then the second plane struck and the towers proceeded to disintegrate. I was born and raised in New York. To me, this was an assault on my home town.

Later that day we went over to the marina where one of the boats had TV. Even though they barely knew us at the time, they asked me aboard to watch it again on their TV. I'll never forget that act of kindness. I'll also never forget the U.S. flag our neighbors at the house displayed at half mast as a show of respect.

As I watched the "Path to 9/11" on ABC tonight, I realized that, though painful, it's necessary to watch it so that we never forget what happened that day in a totally unprovoked attack on thousands of innocent people by Islamic fascists. Rather than laying blame, let's use these lessons learned to help us catch these guys and prevent future disasters.

No matter where we are in the world we need to be aware of our surroundings and stay safe.