story6641.xml

story6641.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-12

On the morning of September 11, at around 9:00a.m., I was at St. Paul the Apostle Pre-School, preparing for my Little Angels class that would be starting in a few days. I was walking out of my class, to the office and was told by the Director of the school that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. And at that point, noone was sure if it was truely and accident, or if it was an act of terrorism. As this was being told to me, I was thinking to myself "I hope this is an accident". Actually a few thoughts went thru my head...and 'war' was one of them. I called my parents out east in Rocky Point to see if they were watching the news, they had just gotten in from early morning shopping but had just turned on the television, so I called my son Andrew. He explained that a plane had gone thru the first tower, and while talking...he interupted and in an excited voice he said..."OH MY GOD, MOM, a plane just went thru the other tower!!!!!!! I felt an immediate scare, and...vulnerable. I felt a rush of adrenalin, started to cry at the thought of such horrific devastation. I immediately got off the phone. Everyone was now searching for a radio, or television to hear and/or see exactly what was happening. We couldn't as we were down in the church building. I finished up my work, drove home, put the tv on and was in total shock...my thoughts???...With all the millions of dollars in military warfare,etc...WHERE were our men? HOW could they have possibly gotten away with this, and create such a horrific devastation???? HOW???
Then I heard the Pentegon was hit...Oh My God!!!!! I thought "THIS WAS IT"! I actually had felt no faith in our military. The innocent and heroic people that brought the plane down in Pittsburgh. And WHAT was going to happen next. HOW many other places were going to get attacked?
My oldest daughter Jaclyn was in Texas on a business trip...and for the FIRST time I thanked God we were in the computer world! She couldn't reach us and we couldn't reach her. She felt frightened, and too far away from home and her family. I kept her up to date by "chat". Thank God for AOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was hard, very hard to know what she was feeling, just what we all were feeling. But to be alone was truely a very difficult situation for her...I felt helpless in being able to get her home safely. I just kept reassuring her that she was in a better place than us and that I thought she would be safer there. Needless to say, she was not able to get home for another few days, as there were no flights available to get home. We all watched the news. The air was quiet, every once in a while you heard the military jets as they canvassed the skies. It was such a frightening feeling because we all knew this was an act of terrorism, a cowardly, and very sneaky one...one that our country let these horrible people get away with...WHERE was security, fbi, cia, anyone? Why was Osama Bin Laden (how i hate to even type his name) and his crazy people not watched more carefully! Watching the city workers, WHOEVER they were, work diligently for HOURS, DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS was just heart-wrenching! They never gave up. The firemen were needed, the policeman were needed, the ironworkers!, the city mechanics to keep those monster vehicles moving and not break down, all the volunteers that kept feeding the tired workers, all the donations...all this ~ was a display of incredible humanity. The concern, care and love for life was shown thru everyone that helped, some whether they wanted to be there or not, was so Godly. This all went on forever, and seemed almost endless, yet...every single worker, hero or volunteer, continued til every speck of the area was searched, found, cleaned, and then closure. My only hope it to rebuild, buildings that are still high with a smaller 'monumental building' in the center...so noone EVER forgets...and will see it...and learn...this demented, cruel and devastating act upon us, on this day, September 11. 2001.
The mayor of New York City did a nothing-but-heart-felt, stupendous, tremendous job, guiding everyone thru this time of fear, difficulty, devastation, and permanent sadness. Thank you Mr. Rudolph Giuliani. You are a very special human being!
Yesterday, as there was a memoriam at the site of the World Trade Center, as well as religious ceremonies and related musical presentations, it was a sad memory, but also a sign that we shall all overcome and move on. But never...oh never forget!

Ann Taranto-Berner
Long Island,
New York