Miami Dolphins

How will Dolphins honor 9-11?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

Today is the 15 year anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks that rocked and change our world and country. The NFL will take center stage today but peaceful protests could be the early talk of the day.

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In Seattle, the Seahawks have informed the media of what they will do as a team to peacefully protest the racial unrest that has gripped the country the last year and a half. The Miami Dolphins held a team meeting to discuss how they would act during the singing of the National Anthem prior to kick-off.

The Dolphins have not made public their intentions. The Seahawks however will not kneel and they will not sit. They will interlock arms and stand as one team of bi-racial players in unison. It’s probably the best display of protest thus far.

The most recent fervor began when 49’ers QB Colin Kaepernick opted to sit in protest of the National Anthem saying he could not stand for a flag that allows racial inequality. The firestorm that erupted cost NFL players endorsements and a lot of hate mail.

Today however is different. Today we remember. The irony is that in the days following the September 11th attacks, the United States had never been closer to a country of no racism. Every race and creed joined together as one as we prayed, worked, and watched the aftermath take it’s grip on our country.

So much we learned from those events and yet still so much we forget.

Photos taken on the same Thursday before #9-11 one year apart. A ray of light shining on One World Trade Center pic.twitter.com/ZMIRWpSWk6

— Ben Sturner (@leverageagency) September 9, 2016

Any person alive and old enough to remember those events can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing. I was on my ambulance in Dallas finishing a 12 hour shift as a paramedic. I made it home before the attacks but my wife woke me up when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

The next 72 hours were crazy, confusing, and very busy for those of us working as first responders and it didn’t matter where you lived. Everything was absolutely insane but one common thread tied us all together. We were one country undivided.

In the last 15 years we have all forgotten how strong we were as a nation coming out of that devastation. There was no white, hispanic, black, or any other diversity. There was one singular nation.

Today as the NFL begins it’s 2016 season the Dolphins and Seahawks will hold a silent protest in hopes of making more aware of what this country has become. Seattle’s plan to interlock arms is in a way symbolic. Americans, once again, interlocked arm to arm, side by side, brother and brother.

One singular race. American.

Whether you believe in God or you do not, remember not only those that lost their lives in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, D.C. but also the countless lives of our servicemen and woman who have fought as a result of 9-11. And remember that 15 years ago today, we were one nation and one nationality.