Democrats.com was there for me on November 5, 2004.

It was the second worst day of my life and the horrific conclusion to OBL's plan to grievously injure the US. The most important tower fell on that day. On 11/5/04 I woke up to a different America, one that was going to be led by mob rule - hysteria, religious pandering and war profiteering - harnessed by an eager and corrupt leadership.

I believe that this was OBL's vision all along. He was never going to destroy the US by militarily strikes. The only way for America to be defeated was for him to find a way to make it rot from within, and 9/11 was the perfect delivery device for such a sickness. Rove and the Neocons were the perfect fools, they saw 9/11 as a gift, while OBL knew it was a trojan horse.

A disease of the mind gripped this nation and divided us to the core, infecting our minds and hearts. There were times when I grieved and wept in rage and shame at what was happening to my country. I now saw how fragile she was, merely a concept, a heightened state of mind that we have agreed to live by, a whisper of a promise that was enough to infuse the heart with enough hope to pump, if at least for one more day.

But Today is a new day. Just as November 5, 2004 was the day the last tower fell, TODAY, is the day Americans decided to take a deep breath, roll up their sleeves and lay a foundation stone upon the still smoldering ruins of 9/11. TODAY is the day that America has awakened from her delirium to see her beloved citizens standing over her bruised and battered body - meeting her gaze with tenderness and concern.

And yet I know this is only a beginning to a long, twisting and uncertain path. Much work needs to be done. Just please indulge me and allow me this one day of remembrance. The day I gazed upon the awakened face of my love, my precious country and saw much that was good and healthy and felt like saying for the first time in a long long time, "everything is all right, we are going to take care of you, we are in the light now."

Thank you Democrats.com. You were the first raft I clung to in the days of the aftermath. Some of my posts were ridiculous, some were thought provoking and some were outrageous, but you were my first audience and you listened to me and I grew with you. It has been a long time since I posted here but I couldn't celebrate this day without you.

blue planet