September 11, 2011; today is the 3,652nd day since September 11, 2001.

As a born and raised New Yorker who has always been proud to say that wherever I have traveled, it is still hard to believe that ten years has passed since that day. While a new Freedom Tower is rising where the World Trade Center once stood, the Pentagon in Washington, DC has been fixed and the grounds in Stonycreek Township, Pennsylvania where United Flight 93 came down will always be sacred ground, the deeper wounds caused on that day to so many people will never be fully healed. While I was close to it, I did not lose anyone on that day; but always remember seeing the photos of those who were missing in Grand Central Station and in the newspapers in the days following 9/11/01. We can only hope that those who did lose someone ten years ago can somehow find peace in knowing that our nation will never, ever forget those men and woman, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters who were lost that day.

With the start of the American football season this week and all the news channels and sources dedicated to finding who is dating who, who has a baby bump and what sports athlete posted what comment on Twitter, �hero� and �role model� are things that are tossed around and given to those people who don�t deserve it as much as those more nameless, faceless people who are giving of themselves everything to make our lives better. The doctors and EMT who save lives every day across the country and around the world; the medical researchers who do painstaking work in the hopes of finding a cure for a disease, and of course, the men and woman who wear the uniforms of the armed services as well as those in police and fire department everywhere.

If you are able to take a moment today or sometime soon, thank someone in uniform for their service; goodness knows they deserve it. Go to a local fire house or police precinct and just shake the hand of someone who puts their lives on the line every day to make us a little bit safer; someone who volunteered for their job, someone who make a choice to do what they do. If you see a man or woman in uniform of the armed services; tell them thank you for putting themselves on the line every day so that other can be free, them all of them that their sacrifice does not go unnoticed, that their dedication to their job is appreciated. Do something for a neighbor, known or unknown, donate blood or volunteer some time to help those a little less fortunate, even just helping someone by doing something small. Let the lessons of unity learned after 9/11 become the standard way of life and not something you do for a little while and then stop; let what we have in common bring us together more than what we disagree about divide us.

Also, take a moment and tell those people in your life that you care about them and love them. Life is a fragile thing and as we learned ten years ago, can end at any time; don�t put off until tomorrow what you can say today. If you have a new friend or a long time one, a family member you see or speak to every day or one that is far away, your spouse or partner or just people you love and would not want to lose in our life, take a moment and let them know you love them. Don�t be shy about letting them know they are special to you; tell them with words or actions; don�t let pride replace gratitude, don�t take for granted what you have since you can lose it all in a moment.

Yesterday has passed, tomorrow can never be reached, today is a gift; that�s why it is called the present. Quote

Truly noble words, well spoken. Quote