A lot has happened over the past twelve years.  I have met survivors of the September 11 attacks, and I have met those that lost family and friends that day.  Everyone I meet has a story about September 11, 2001.

I remember it just like it was yesterday and still cannot believe that  twelve years ago today, Osama Bin Laden & company perpetrated the single largest attack ever on American soil.  They targeted the heart of our financial centers, and the heart of our military command.   Their plan was to bankrupt America and watch us tear ourselves apart from within.  (Note: Their plan is still in place)

Everyone remembers what they were doing that morning.  I was having a cup of coffee when the news broke out on the TV.  Then my phone rang.  It was by Broker/Sales Manager/Mentor, Sandi Sharpe.

Over the years, Sandi acquired many friends through working with international college students.  She was their family away from home.  She was “Mom” to many.   One family, from Uzbekistan, bought a new Ole South home and became extended family to all of us.

The grandmother of this family had spent the summer in Nashville to help her grandchildren get properly settled in their new home.  She knew no English whatsoever, but was very easy to communicate with.  After all, a smile means the same thing in every language.  All of us loved her, and her family, dearly.

She was returning home to Uzbekistan on September 11th on the first flight to New York from Nashville.  She was armed with basic signs that Sandi made to hold up when she arrived in NYC.  With her smile, and those signs, she would never be lost…. well, as long as the plane landed in NYC.

But it didn’t.  The flight was routed to Raleigh, NC.  She did not understand any of the announcements, and only had her signs, which were useless in Raleigh.  The airline personnel at the gate calmed her and checked her in a nearby hotel, but none of us knew that yet.  Sandi was on the phone many hours before we knew the situation and that she was safe.  In the meantime, she is in a strange location, in a hotel room, knowing only what pictures were shown on TV.

The grandson was loading up for a drive to Raleigh, which probably was not the safest thing for an olive-skin immigrant, with a name too long to pronounce, to be doing that day.  Rumors of fuel shortages and curfews abound.  There was nothing else to do but go with him to Raleigh.

Long story short, I will never forget the look on the grandmother’s face when she opened the hotel door and saw us standing there.  She was in tears pointing at the TV.  She had been terrified not knowing where she was, or why she was there.  That fear turned to joy and relief as we loaded her things into the car and headed back to Nashville!

That day, America pulled together.  Democrats and Republicans joined together without unnecessary drama and rallied around our President.  America would prevail.

At least for a while.  Then we would eventually forget.

Remember, the intention of Osama Bin Bastard and Company was to bankrupt our country and watch us destroy ourselves from within.  They did not have a specific time frame in mind.   Even with Osama dead, his movement and ambitions seem to be alive and well.

Fast-Forward to today and look around.  What do you see?  Democrats and Republicans constantly battling each other.  America debating involvement in yet another foreign conflict.  We are slowly emerging from a recession that did not discriminate.  Everyone has been affected, financially and otherwise.

The United States has always served in the role of “world police” for humanity?  We have always ended up being the “protector” of human rights in world conflicts.  If not us, who will be?  Russia is hardly qualified to sincerely step up to the role.  Maybe it is their turn now?  That’s a question I cannot answer but I do know that world peace is a very complicated objective with many moving parts.

Where would the world be if Saddam Hussein had been allowed to remain in power?  Where would the world be if Osama Bin Laden was still alive?  Great questions to ponder.   I can say that if Adolph Hitler had been taken out when he invaded Poland, World War II would have been averted.

Regardless of your political preference, now is the time to encourage elected officials to put politics aside and pull this country together.   This country has the resolve to fix our problems and its not supposed to be about ”who will get the credit or blame.”   We don’t elect people to find blame, we elect people to find solutions… or at least that is supposed to be the plan.

It is our obligation not to forget what happened to our country on September 11th.  It is also our obligation to remember the sacrifices of countless people, that day, and every day since.  If we choose not to remember, Osama Bin Bastard & Company wins.  We will be bankrupt and will have destroyed our country from within.

You know, we are still having tough times in this country but until you see people wading off of Miami Beach preparing to swim to Cuba, there’s still time to get it right.

Trey Lewis is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Tennessee with Ole South Realty, 615.896.0019  direct 615.593.6340 and VP Sales for Tennessee’s largest home builder, OleSouth.com, specializing in new homes in the Greater Nashville area to include Nashville, Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Gallatin, Clarksville, and Spring Hill, Tennessee