story2056.xml
Title
story2056.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-10
911DA Story: Story
This may not be the most dramatic story, it includes no dramatic rescue or extreme show of valor. However, it tells of my impressions as the events unfolded during that fateful day and the day after.
I'm a Venezuelan that resides in Venezuela but was in Santa Rosa, California for our company's annual sales meeting. At around 6am I receive a call from a co-worker telling me to switch the TV on and, well, I saw what most everyone else saw.
After calling other executives from the company to warn them of what was going on, I continued to stay in shock as I watched the images that kept pouring in.
It was the next day, when things had relatively calmed down, that other impressions started to sink in. I was amazed at the reaction of all Americans, my coworkers, my friends, the President, the people in the street. When in other countries I would surely have seen mass demonstrations, flag burning, hate banners, etc., what I saw was the opposite. There were isolated exceptions of course, that is uncontrollable. What did the Americans do? They went to their places of worship to pray or meditate, they consoled each other, they helped each other.
I saw one man on a street corner just waving the US flag, not asking for money, just waving Old Glory. Passers-by would just honk or give a thumbs up, and I had tears in my eyes.
It was that experience, that of seeing how the people reacted to such a horrific event, emphasizes to me the greatness of a nation which so many people admire, envy and hate.
Alfredo Dominguez
Valencia, Venezuela
I'm a Venezuelan that resides in Venezuela but was in Santa Rosa, California for our company's annual sales meeting. At around 6am I receive a call from a co-worker telling me to switch the TV on and, well, I saw what most everyone else saw.
After calling other executives from the company to warn them of what was going on, I continued to stay in shock as I watched the images that kept pouring in.
It was the next day, when things had relatively calmed down, that other impressions started to sink in. I was amazed at the reaction of all Americans, my coworkers, my friends, the President, the people in the street. When in other countries I would surely have seen mass demonstrations, flag burning, hate banners, etc., what I saw was the opposite. There were isolated exceptions of course, that is uncontrollable. What did the Americans do? They went to their places of worship to pray or meditate, they consoled each other, they helped each other.
I saw one man on a street corner just waving the US flag, not asking for money, just waving Old Glory. Passers-by would just honk or give a thumbs up, and I had tears in my eyes.
It was that experience, that of seeing how the people reacted to such a horrific event, emphasizes to me the greatness of a nation which so many people admire, envy and hate.
Alfredo Dominguez
Valencia, Venezuela
Collection
Citation
“story2056.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 11, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/12181.