He was one of thousands, but he was my good friend.
My heart goes out to the families and loved ones of all those who lost their lives on 9/11 and in the War on Terror. We should honor those who are are still with us, fighting to protect our Free Republic, the United States of America.
As I searched for the remote to change the channel last night when Nightline came on, I was struck by this thought: I had attended our community's annual Relay for Life walk against cancer a few hours before. No one read any cancer victims names, but you could feel their presence. No one made a grand production of showing cancer victims names with their photos on a screen, but we still knew about them. Sure, there were individul photos and names on luminarias that lined the track. But no one had to read off every name for the point to be made- we knew these people had suffered and died at the cruel hands of cancer. We didn't need to be reminded of that in any way. They are silent heroes, in my book. They never craved the spotlight, and certainly wouldn't have wanted it that way. They were just living their lives when tragedy struck. Silent heroes don't need some media whore to publicize their plight for ratings sake to make their stories known. Your friend, in my book, is one of those silent heroes, and I will never forget him, even though I never knew him.