On the morning of September 11,
2001, I was in my office at home working on my computer with CNN on the
TV in the background. I heard someone say that a plane a crashed into
one of the towers of the World Trade Center. I immediatlely focused my
attention on the story and watched as the tape was of the "accident" replayed .

I
called one of my partners in Manhattan and told him what had happened
and to turn on his TV. I returned to my computer while continuing to
talk with my partner. Suddenly I heard him shout: "Did you see that?
Did you see that?" Of course he had seen the second plane fly into the
other tower. At that moment, we both knew this was no longer a terrible
accident but a calculated attack upon America. I said: "Gotta go" and
hung up.

I owned a restaurant at that time in Hoboken, New
Jersey which for those of you unfamiliar with the geography of the area
is directly across the Hudson River from NYC and, more specifically,
the World Trade Center. Hoboken is also a major commuter hub with
people arriving from all over NJ by train and bus to travel to work in
NYC either by the "PATH" subway system or the ferries which crossed
from Hoboken to lower Manhattan. And my restaurant was directly across
from those facilities. So I knew that somehow we would become involved
in this tragedy and wanted to be there.

As I made my approach to
Hoboken, I quickly discovered that all access roads to the area had
been blocked off by State and local law enforcement. I had no choice
but to turn around and return home. When I got back I received a call
from one of my managers who told me that the Hoboken Chief of Police
was there and was commandeering the restaurant. He asked what he should
do and I told him to give him anything he needed or wanted.

For
the next 36 hours, the restaurant was transformed into a command post
for the FBI, State and local law enforcement, and all the other
emergency services. The primary purpose was to coordinate the arrival
and triaging of any survivors who they would bring over by ferry. We
know now that there were no survivors.

The following day, I
managed to return to Hoboken and while access was still restricted I
was able to enter partly because I was a business owner and partly
because I knew half the cops in town. When I had parked my car and was
walking towards the restaurant, police who knew me started to literally
run over to thank me for all I had done. I was stunned. My thought was:
"What the hell had I done?" It was insignificant in my mind. Later the
Mayor and Chief of Police stopped by to offer their thanks.

When
the towers fell, the American spirit rose. In an instant, the Nation
and the world were united; a unity exemplified by the banner headline
in Le Monde: "Today, We Are All Americans". From the smoke and ashes of
the World Trade Center, the need for us to hunt down the perpetrators
and bring them to justice also rose.

My family was never big on
public displays of our patriotism. Nevertheless, my father joined the
Marines and fought in the South Pacific in WWII. My two brothers also
joined the Marines as soon as they were of age. And me...well I was
born on Veterans Day. And we always went to the parades on Memorial Day
and the Fourth of July.

So I found it somewhat surprising that
when I returned home, I dusted off our American flag and flew it at the
front of the house. I went out and bought a huge 6'X10' flag to be
flown on the side of the restaurant. I had to somehow express my
solidarity with my fellow Americans and, more importantly, to show
support for the American troops who would soon be fighting in
Afghanistan in pursuit of Osama bin laden and his followers.

I flew that flag for one year until September 11, 2002. And then I took it down. I haven't flown it since then.

By
then, the horrors of 9/11 and our original goal of capturing and
prosecuting those responsible had been hijacked by a cabal of
extremists in our government intent on turning the tragedy of 9/11 to
their own purposes.

It became both a shield and a cudgel for
these corrupt, amoral, soul-less beings. They used it as shield behind
which they could secretly carry out their plan to destroy our
constitutional form of government along with the attendant rights and
liberties Americans have joyed for centuries.

And they used it
as a cudgel with which to beat their opponents into silence lest they
be branded as weak or "unpatriotic". (Even today, we see these same
people attack those who don't wear a flag lapel pin as being somehow
"un-American".)

Our flag, my flag, once a symbol of freedom and
justice and equality has been co-opted by these people and has been
transformed into a symbol of fear and oppression, dishonored and
debased by people in other countries around the globe.

So that's
why I stopped flying the flag. It has lost its true meaning for me
through the actions of a few men interested only in the accumulation of
power and wealth. And I won't fly it again until the glory is restored
to "Old Glory".

I have a target date for that. It's January 20, 2009 at 12:01 PM.

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