Anyone who knows me pretty well, knows that I am very patriotic and sentimental when it comes to the U.S. So today, 9/11/08, 7 years later, I am paying a small tribute to those we lost. Do we remember them? Will we remember them in November when it's time to vote? Which candidate will keep their deaths from becoming in vain?

A few quotes, that I thought were inspirational that reflect on what happened September 11, 2001

"What lesson did you hope to teach us by your coward's attack on our World Trade Center, our Pentagon, us? What was it you hoped we would learn? Whatever it was, please know that you failed. Did you want us to respect your cause? You just damned your cause. Did you want to make us fear? You just steeled our resolve. Did you want to tear us apart? You just brought us together... So I ask again: what was it you hoped to teach us? It occurs to me that maybe you just wanted us to know the depths of your hatred. If that's the case, consider the message received. And take this message in exchange: You don't know my people. You don't know what we're capable of. You don't know what you just started. But you're about to learn." ~~ Leonard Pitts, Jr., 12 Sep 2001 in Miami Herald

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free." Ronald Reagan

"Let those who say that we must understand the reasons for terrorism come with me to the thousands of funerals we are having in New York City and explain those insane, maniacal reasons to the children who will grow up without fathers and mothers, to the parents who have had their children ripped from them for no reason at all.

Remember British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who - armed only with good intentions - negotiated with the Nazis and emerged hopeful that he had achieved peace in his time. Hitler's wave of terror was only encouraged by these attempts at appeasement. At the cost of millions of lives, we learned that words - though important - are not enough to guarantee peace. It is action alone that counts." -- Mayor Rudy Giuliani