story5048.xml

story5048.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I wasn't there, but my heart goes out to the survivors and the families of those who perished. Like a lot of folks, Sept. 11 started out like any other day for me. I don't work on Tuesdays, so after seeing my kids off to school and my husband off to his job, I settled down in front of my computer to surf and chat in peace. I hadn't bothered to turn on the TV or radio, so I had no idea that anything spectacular had happened. I remember that I was playing games at Pogo.com, when someone in the room mentioned a plane had crashed into the WTC. My first thought was that it was a freak accident, then one of the other gamers who happened to be watching the news reported that a second plane was heading straight towards the other tower. Then someone else stated that they thought they saw people jumping from windows. I left the room then went to every online news site I could think of to see what exactly had taken place. My sister called me to ask if I'd heard about what happened and I finally turned on the TV. I couldn't believe what I saw and heard. I sat there in shock until I saw the first tower collapse. I remember tears running down my face and not bothering to do anything about it.
When my kids came home from school, I told them what had happened. I reassured them that they were safe because the only planes that were being allowed to fly for the time being would be those belonging to the military or planes taking help to the victims, and living near a military base meant the only planes flying near us would be military. My daughter heard about the rescue personnel who lost their lives when the towers fell. She had told me she wanted to be an EMT when she grew up. After hearing what had happened, she told me she STILL wants to be an EMT or a doctor, so she can help people who are hurting (she was 6 when this happened). My son's school held a moment of silence around the flag pole each morning as the flag was raised. He made sure that I got him to school on time so he could participate.
I've visited the web tribute sites. I've seen the pictures, read the comments left by other visitors and even left comments of my own. The terrorists succeeded for only a moment, then the American people did what we've done throughout history. We opened our hearts and extended our hands to our fellow Americans. Yes, this brought out the ugly side of a few people, but there was so much more GOOD done as a nation. We were shown that we're not safe, but we also showed that the flame of the American spirit may waver but it will NOT be extinguished.