Remember the bad old days of the Cold War, and USAF ICBM crews on duty 24/7 in missile silos? The two quick shot are part of the Minuteman National Monument outside of Wall, South Dakota. Very interesting museum with mock-ups of the launch control center and living quarters for the crews, plus a theater. The theater was showing period films of the Duck and Cover drill. My wife and I declined to vies, as we both remembered going through DNC drills in grade school in the 50's (like hiding under a plywood school desk would have done any good, but I digress).

15 miles away is the Delta 9 missile silo, now a static display

I have lived in New York City long enough to have survived 9/11. I couldn't help but notice how some here posted images of that faithful day as we remember that day. That was 17-years ago, and for many of us it seems like yesterday. Yet, he has been 17 years, In that time we have grown as a nation but nowhere more so then right here in New York. In that time the city has rebuilt and recovered from that devastating time.
This year I would like us all to not only remember that day but celebrate today, and how we have recovered. We must never forget what happened but we must look to the future with hope and pride in ourselves at a nation. To that end I would like to offer the following images for your consideration...

I was unaware of the existence of this memorial until now. It is most impressive, and more so that the Russian people would do us such honor. Since childhood and growing up in fear of a thermonuclear war with the then Soviet Union I have maintained the hope that human beings might somehow learn to live on this "pale blue dot" in peace. Millions of Americans and Russians must share that hope. Such a monument is, perhaps, a way of insisting that we and they not abandon it, and urging us to eschew the xenophobic attitudes that characterize so many these days.