It's hard to believe that it's been 13 years since America was attacked on September 11th. So much has changed within our culture since then. I still remember where I was, what I was doing, and who I was with on that day. School was just getting started for the day when my 8th grade teacher, Kurt Rummler, told us that a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. At first, we all thought it was a little recreational plane and our biggest concern was, "how are we going to trade with the world if our World Trade Center is gone?" I also had tickets that night to go see the Milwaukee Brewers play the St. Louis Cardinals and I was crushed when I learned that the game was cancelled. I obviously had no clue what was going on at first, but as the day continued, I would soon learn the magnitude of what happened and how it would effect our everyday lives. Our country lost 2,977 innocent lives on that day and I don't ever want to forget that.
On Monday, our men's basketball team and students here at Bob Jones University helped set up a 9/11 memorial display on the front of our campus that will remain in place until September 15. It consists of thousands of flags, 2,977 to be exact. We placed each flag in the ground and formed the structures of the World Trade Towers and the Pentagon. As we began there was a lot of laughter and our players were having a fun time helping out. The more flags we placed in the ground, the more I began to realize that we serve a bigger purpose in doing this. Each of those flags represented an individual that lost his or her life in the 9/11 attacks. A father, son, sister, or grandmother. Every flag now served a significant purpose and created a special connection between a college basketball coach and strangers that mean so much to me. I hope that all of our players and students that volunteered with that project felt a similar feeling behind what we were doing. I love my country and I still get emotional when I think about September 11, 2001. I still get sad thinking about the lives lost. I still get ticked off thinking about the terrorists behind it all. I still find myself in disbelief that it all happened. But the greatest emotion I still feel is pride. There is no better country in the world that the United States of America. I am grateful to live here. So I hope that when you drive past the campus of Bob Jones University this week and see thousands of flags in the ground, you remember.
