I was just waking up on that Tuesday morning. My Aunt Doris calls and says to turn on the TV. At that moment as I watched what was unfolding, what it meant to be "free" changed after seeing the plane collide with the second tower. Witnessing the scrabble of the newscasters to catch their breath and determine if there were still other flights being hijacked in real-time. Did terrorist just manage to pull-off the biggest terror attack in American History? They did indeed.
Just three days earlier, I was indecisive if I should board my United Airlines flight from Newark to Ontario, CA or switch my flight to Tuesday morning so that I could finish packing up the house I was moving out of. I had just two weeks to tie up loose ends in New Jersey and get to California to help nurse my mom back to health after surgery (which was scheduled for 9/12/2001). My first thought was that the only prep I would need prior to her surgery was just "getting there" and being able to meet with doctors, etc. I concluded that anything that I had not packed was not as important, so I kept my itinerary and left on Saturday, September 8, 2001.
As I stayed glued to the T.V. , like most everyone else, I then heard that there was indeed a plane that had been hijacked that recently left Newark, New Jersey early that morning en route to San Francisco. United Airlines flight number 93. The same flight I would have been on had I decided to leave on Tuesday instead. Now, whether you believe it was shot down or crashed due to a struggle in the cockpit near Somerset, Pennsylvania, all 45 people died. At that moment I felt so many emotions at once. Sadness for those that lost their lives. Relief that I chose to fly on the "right" day. Guilt for not having taken the call from my ex-boyfriend who worked in the towers before I left Jersey. (I later found out that he made it out of the tower and had quite a story to tell.) Grateful that I was with my immediate family when tragedy struck.
As I have talked about in interviews, I often write songs when the "spirit" moves me to do so. I feel closest to God when my mind is uncluttered and am able to hear Him whisper in my ear. I believe when I wrote the lyrics to "Free", it happened just like that.
Lew (Laing) sent me the track and it made me think of the old days.......so I wanted to pay homage to Donny Hathaway (Someday We'll All Be Free) but also take us back to the days when our kids could play outside without worrying....even not coming home til the street lights came on. As a nation, we can also add to that list remembering back in the day when going to through airport security wasn't so invasive. Yeah, those were the days, but you know what? I'd rather be overprotected than under-protected.
In the weeks and even months that followed those tragic events, we as a nation stood together and re-instated the slogan United We Stand. Regretfully, on this 10-year anniversary of 9/11, we have gotten away from that togetherness we once used to get us through those tough days post-9/11. Sadly, we are still "fighting in the streets in absence of peace and losing our way"....(including the bickering & fighting that is taking place in the Nation's Capital). SN: It shouldn't have taken so long to get the bill passed to cover the 9/11 first responders for the healthcare coverage they so desperately need and deserve.
I don't profess to have the answers to curing the ills of the world, but I do believe it to be possible. After all, "Donny used to say "we'll all be free"......and because he said it, I have hope that it will be so.
Saying a prayer today for those families that lost loved ones on that day and for the men and women who continue to fight for our country in the name of freedom.
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