story7010.xml

story7010.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-13

I was driving to school when the morning radio host mentioned that something horrible had happened, but they didn't know what. Then news of the attack came through. I knew my cousin, Melody, lived and worked in D.C., so I called my aunt to see if she had heard from her. That is the moment I found out that Melody actually worked in the Pentagon. We didn't know the details, but Melody had been able to get a call through saying she was out of the building and unhurt. Over the next couple of days, as Melody was able to talk about it, we found out that a miracle had happened. Melody and her coworkers had not heard of the attack on the WTC until my aunt called her and told her. A few minutes after that call, the plane hit the Pentagon. Melody told us that if she had not heard of the attack, she and her office mate would probably had crawled under their desks, but instead they immediately rushed out of the building with the other survivors, narrowly missing the fireball that passed through moments later. You see, Melody's office was on the first floor, immediately to the left of the large gaping hole left by the plane.
My father, a licensed counselor at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, AL, waited several hours to get on the base on Sept. 11. My brother and I pleaded with him to just go back home, because no one knew when or where the next attack might be. Instead, he went to work so he could do his job - helping people get through the day. To me, both my father and my cousin are heroes. They did not let the attack get in the way of doing their job - helping people, and helping the Department of Defense.
My son, three years old at the time, watched the news with my parents and me that night. He kept saying, "I want to see the movie with the planes hitting the building again!" I know most of the world wanted to believe it was just a movie. Maybe a more recent version of War of the Worlds. Unfortunately, it will be placed in our children's text books as another horrifying event, along with Pearl Harbor and WW II.
My hope is that my son, and the other everyday survivors, will remember and learn from the attacks. If we are to be survivors, we must make the best of every day.