story9394.xml
Title
story9394.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-07-28
911DA Story: Story
I wrote this on Sept 10, 2002:
As the anniversary of the terror attacks on America approaches, I really feel I need to write down my feelings and thoughts of what happened that day, and what 9/11 means to me.
No, I wasn't one of the people who were in the Towers, or the Pentagon, nor did I have friends or relatives in either of these places or on the planes, that perished. I was one of the millions of Americans that day that was glued to the television, watching America's innocence being stolen away in front of the whole world.
I remember that morning so clearly. Joshua was running around, a cute little toddler at almost 15 months. Zeke was just two months old. I had gotten the girls off to school and Earl called me as he does every morning after he goes to work. He said, "Hey what is up at the World Trade Center? Did it get bombed or what?"
My immediate reaction was, "Again?!" I remembered when it was bombed before. I went and turned on CNN. And stood there looking at the World Trade Center Tower #2 smoking. I told him they said a plane had hit it. I thought, "Oh those poor people" and "I wonder how they will get the plane out of there". I never thought it was a terrorist attack, just a horrible accident. And then the unthinkable happened, the second plane hit right there on international television.
During the next few hours, which seemed like days, I was, along with millions of other Americans, glued to the television. The Pentagon was hit, the towers fell, the plane in Pennsylvania crashed. And all I could think was, "When is it going to stop? How many more planes are going to come crashing down from above with psychopathic idiots at the controls?"
America was raped that day on international television, for the whole world to see. Time after time she was raped. She was left hurting, bleeding, wounded in her heart. But she has come back stronger than ever, in some ways.
What most Americans fail to realize is yeah, we are winning the war on terror as we know it, but there is going to come a time that we are hit again in a way and in a place that we have never even thought about. I don't know how many times I've heard on the news, "Had we known that they would use airliners as flying bombs..." Our government is doing a very good job coping with and trying to prevent attacks on this country and our interests abroad. But it will happen again.
Before you get mad at me for stating that, let me explain. In the weeks following the attacks, it was God who led this country, who comforted this country. But quite honestly, people have become as complacent or more so than they were before the attacks. We have got to turn our hearts and our lives toward God now more than ever. You know why? Because it is only going to get worse. Don't believe me? Get out the Bible and turn to Revelation. This is not the beginning of the end, we are a whole lot closer to the end than anyone knows.
It wasn't 3 weeks after the attack Earl and I were talking. The ACLU was having a field day with all the "God Bless America" stuff saying how it was WRONG to say that and how the President shouldn't do this and shouldn't pray, etc etc etc... And I said to Earl, "They just don't get it. They don't get the fact that unless they turn their hearts TOWARD God this country is going to suffer an even greater attack." He said, "Oh that won't happen". I said, "That is what they said on Sept 10, 2001".
It can and it will happen. How many more times must America be on her hands and knees, how many more wounds must she suffer? Every time I hear a plane fly over I think of 9/11. And how it changed my life. In God's arms, that is the only safe haven.
The other day, I read about all the people on Flight 93 that went down in Pennsylvania. It was a story that was compiled of all the people that had received phone calls from their loved ones on that plane, that day. When you know that the end of your life has come and you have to make a choice between doing right, and doing wrong, then that is the time your true character comes out. The innocent people on that plane that day, were suddenly all equal in each others eyes. It didn't matter if they were sitting in first class, business class, or coach, each one of them suddenly became real. All facades were taken off and humility took over. I don't know about you, but I want to be real all the time, not just in the last hour or two of this life. I want to learn to live life like I only have 1-2 hours left. What do I have to lose? Pride? Yes. I have lots of pride to lose, we all do.
I'm thankful for all those people who selflessly gave their lives for us to live with freedoms that we have been given. I'm thankful for the wake-up call that we've all been given and I pray that we all heed that call. God's knocking. And whether people like it or not, the freedoms that we enjoy in this country are based on the Word of God.
I hope this speaks to someone today. I feel much better just sharing my heart.
Leona
As the anniversary of the terror attacks on America approaches, I really feel I need to write down my feelings and thoughts of what happened that day, and what 9/11 means to me.
No, I wasn't one of the people who were in the Towers, or the Pentagon, nor did I have friends or relatives in either of these places or on the planes, that perished. I was one of the millions of Americans that day that was glued to the television, watching America's innocence being stolen away in front of the whole world.
I remember that morning so clearly. Joshua was running around, a cute little toddler at almost 15 months. Zeke was just two months old. I had gotten the girls off to school and Earl called me as he does every morning after he goes to work. He said, "Hey what is up at the World Trade Center? Did it get bombed or what?"
My immediate reaction was, "Again?!" I remembered when it was bombed before. I went and turned on CNN. And stood there looking at the World Trade Center Tower #2 smoking. I told him they said a plane had hit it. I thought, "Oh those poor people" and "I wonder how they will get the plane out of there". I never thought it was a terrorist attack, just a horrible accident. And then the unthinkable happened, the second plane hit right there on international television.
During the next few hours, which seemed like days, I was, along with millions of other Americans, glued to the television. The Pentagon was hit, the towers fell, the plane in Pennsylvania crashed. And all I could think was, "When is it going to stop? How many more planes are going to come crashing down from above with psychopathic idiots at the controls?"
America was raped that day on international television, for the whole world to see. Time after time she was raped. She was left hurting, bleeding, wounded in her heart. But she has come back stronger than ever, in some ways.
What most Americans fail to realize is yeah, we are winning the war on terror as we know it, but there is going to come a time that we are hit again in a way and in a place that we have never even thought about. I don't know how many times I've heard on the news, "Had we known that they would use airliners as flying bombs..." Our government is doing a very good job coping with and trying to prevent attacks on this country and our interests abroad. But it will happen again.
Before you get mad at me for stating that, let me explain. In the weeks following the attacks, it was God who led this country, who comforted this country. But quite honestly, people have become as complacent or more so than they were before the attacks. We have got to turn our hearts and our lives toward God now more than ever. You know why? Because it is only going to get worse. Don't believe me? Get out the Bible and turn to Revelation. This is not the beginning of the end, we are a whole lot closer to the end than anyone knows.
It wasn't 3 weeks after the attack Earl and I were talking. The ACLU was having a field day with all the "God Bless America" stuff saying how it was WRONG to say that and how the President shouldn't do this and shouldn't pray, etc etc etc... And I said to Earl, "They just don't get it. They don't get the fact that unless they turn their hearts TOWARD God this country is going to suffer an even greater attack." He said, "Oh that won't happen". I said, "That is what they said on Sept 10, 2001".
It can and it will happen. How many more times must America be on her hands and knees, how many more wounds must she suffer? Every time I hear a plane fly over I think of 9/11. And how it changed my life. In God's arms, that is the only safe haven.
The other day, I read about all the people on Flight 93 that went down in Pennsylvania. It was a story that was compiled of all the people that had received phone calls from their loved ones on that plane, that day. When you know that the end of your life has come and you have to make a choice between doing right, and doing wrong, then that is the time your true character comes out. The innocent people on that plane that day, were suddenly all equal in each others eyes. It didn't matter if they were sitting in first class, business class, or coach, each one of them suddenly became real. All facades were taken off and humility took over. I don't know about you, but I want to be real all the time, not just in the last hour or two of this life. I want to learn to live life like I only have 1-2 hours left. What do I have to lose? Pride? Yes. I have lots of pride to lose, we all do.
I'm thankful for all those people who selflessly gave their lives for us to live with freedoms that we have been given. I'm thankful for the wake-up call that we've all been given and I pray that we all heed that call. God's knocking. And whether people like it or not, the freedoms that we enjoy in this country are based on the Word of God.
I hope this speaks to someone today. I feel much better just sharing my heart.
Leona
Collection
Citation
“story9394.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 23, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/13981.