Living our new reality while recalling 9-11

Nearly all of us remember exactly where we were at 7:46 a.m. five years ago when the first plane hit a building in New York. The rest of us surely recall our whereabouts when we heard that the second plane hit at 8:03 central time and the reality sank in that it was not a fluke but a coordinated attack.

Then came word of an explosion at the Pentagon and a crash in Pennsylvania -- many of us guessed the latter was the first strike back against the terrorists.

September 11 was the day our innocence, such as it was, died. No longer was the ideological conflict confined to the Middle East. We all felt a new kinship with New Yorkers as the towers collapsed; new awe of the heroism of police officers and firefighters who sacrificed their lives without a second thought.

As donors waited at blood centers, the reality sank in that there was little middle ground at Ground Zero; you either walked away or died.

Suddenly, the world was much smaller as the skies above Southwest Nebraska were completely clear of vapor trails for the first time in decades, and a spray plane in flight was enough to spawn calls to 911.

Five years later, not a day goes by we don't think about September 11, 2001, in some way or another.

We're pleased with gasoline prices drop toward $2.50. Our friends work for airport security and we think nothing of removing our shoes before flying.

Everyone knows someone who's served in Iraq or Afghanistan -- a son or daughter, sister or brother, father or mother -- or we've been there ourselves. And, ban against racial profiling or not, we can't help but wonder whether that olive-skinned stranger is of Middle Eastern descent.

In reality, perhaps it's not how much has change, but how much we've adapted to that change is remarkable.

Now, five years and thousands of miles from Ground Zero, going about our business and living our lives is the best way of proving to terrorists that they cannot succeed.