Flying in the Face of Fear

America is a nation in motion, not mourning. United, we stand strong and resilient. Because together, as a collective and diverse team of Americans, we keep moving onward and upward no matter how many challenges are sent our way. Never was that more evident than one year ago when our country and its children were so brutally attacked. Yes, we mourned and cried and got angry. But we also rallied, retaliated and emerged a stronger nation, a stronger people. We emerged as one.

If ever there was a time it was then that we remembered how lucky we were to be Americans, home of the brave and land of the free. The sound and value of those words resonated with piercing velocity throughout the country and in every soul.

Our everyday busy lives overshadowed the importance and significance of our liberty. After all, without liberty it is likely we would not have everyday busy lives. Now we know better. Our liberty and pursuit of happiness are things we shall no longer take for granted, are they?

As all the memorials fill our airwaves this month and we're reminded of all the pain we witnessed and personally felt, as we shed more tears, and forever remember where we were at that moment in history, let's not forget the many ways in which we can honor and pay tribute to all those who lost their lives on Sept. 11, 2001.

Our first victory in the war on terrorism came from the brave men and women on flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania. Had it not been for their democratic vote and heroic efforts to take back that American flight, who knows how many more people on the ground would have lost their lives? We can honor them by continuing to fly and keeping a more vigilant eye, knowing that inside each and every one of us, there lies a hero who would do the same. History has taught us that when push comes to shove Americans are first to fly in the face of fear.

Let not our fallen brothers and sisters in New York and Washington die in vain. Let's honor their memory and win this war through random acts of kindness and consideration. Let's support our economy through giving and receiving. Let die the mission to instill fear and ruin our financial system by tyrannical terrorists.

Let's make it as much our responsibility as it is that of our soldiers, police, and firefighters to protect our homeland, economy, freedom and each other. It is our constitutional right to do so and we should do so at all times no matter what it takes.

Take a trip, buy a car, get on a plane, build a new house. Show them what you're made of. Fly in the face of fear. Your contributions keep our nation in motion.

Take a moment every day to remember how lucky you are to be an American and how lucky you are to be alive. And in that precious moment, don't forget to give a wink and a nod, or a prayer and a blessing, to all the friends, families and colleagues whose ultimate sacrifice one year ago today was our reminder to remember how lucky we are. We owe them that.