story5743.xml

story5743.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

On September 10th, 2001 I buried my father. His death was
sudden and quite unexpected. I had held up rather well under
the circumstances but my heart was broken and grief had
overwhelmed me. Because I was executor of his estate, my
first duty on September 11th was to go to my lawyer's
office for help in settling his estate. I had gotten up
pretty early and went out on my front porch for a smoke.
As I was sitting there, a neighbor boy ran from the house
across the street from me to another house screaming "Those
$%@!^&*'s they have blown up the building." I didn't pay
him any mind because he never made much sense to me anyway.

I went on out to my lawyer's office and in the course of the
conversation, she said, "In light of what has happened to our
country today, you need to think of your financial future."
I was puzzled at this comment and asked what she meant. She
gave me the bad news about the attack and I was paralyzed with
disbelief. Then I remembered my neighbor's ranting as he
ran across the street earlier in the morning. That is what he
was talking about.
I finished my business with the lawyer and went to consumer
credit to conductmore of my Dad's unfinished business.
When I walked in the door there were no employees
in the front office. They were all huddled around a small
television in a private area for employees only. I
disregarded the partition separating the TV room from
the front office and found myself watching in horror with
them. They hadn't even noticed that I didn't belong there.
As we watched the second tower being struck I remember thinking
"This is not a movie - those are real people in that plane
and in that building". Suddenly, my thoughts turned to the
lose of my Dad and the grief I felt at his unexpected death.
My own fears and feelings seemed so small in comparision to
what my fellow countrymen were experiencing in New York City.
I remember trying to put myself in the place of those people
running so hard down the streets away from the smoke and
choking dust that chased them when the towers fell. I tried
to imagine how it would feel to know I was going to die in
those planes in just a few minutes'time. It was not imaginable.
The world as I know it changed that day. I was joined in
my personal grieving by thousands who lost loved ones and
millions who watched helplessly as our great nation was attacked.
Today, September 11, 2002, as we remembered the events of
last year, tears flowed openly as our radio stations
played songs written about bravery, God in the stairwells,
last kisses goodbye and a proud nation filled with grief
for the loss of those we have never met. School children
gathered to remember our "real heros" - the public servants
who risk their lives for others every day. Business people
all over America wore red, white and blue and drove to work
with their headlights shining. We won't soon forget this
sad day in history when America woke up and realized how
precious is our way of life and how much we love our country.