story8146.xml

story8146.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-26

It was almost 7:00 a.m. in Salt Lake City and I had been at work for about a ? hour. I'd turned on the radio and suddenly the music was interrupted by the news people coming on and saying the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. I pictured a little single engine plane hitting it. One of the DJ's said something about it must have been an accident and all of a sudden I felt in my heart that it wasn't an accident, that it had been deliberate. Then it seemed like just a few minutes later and they said another one had hit the WTC and I knew for sure then it was deliberate. I was still picturing fairly small planes, about the size of a commuter plane. When I walked to the cafeteria in our building they had a TV and were showing the 2nd plane fly into the building and I will never forget how shocked I was to see such a big plane. I remember thinking "how did they get such a big plane?" It didn't occur to me that there were other people on the plane who didn't want to be there. Then I started praying that everyone would get out of the WTC. My brain was screaming to those people in the buildings, "get out, get out". Then the first building collapsed! It happened so soon after it was hit, and I was sure that no one had gotten out and I started weeping. When I heard later that firemen and police officers had run into that building I was stunned. How had they dared to do that? I still can't believe how brave those men were.

The news started reporting about the Pentagon and the plane crash in the woods. It was all so shocking. As news came in on who had done it I wondered who these people were who hated us so much. I felt like it was directed to me personally. How could there be that kind of hate in the world? I wondered if those men were shocked when they woke up in Hell. Our country helps so many other countries and all we get is hate for it. Are they jealous of us? Why do they hate us? I'm sure there is some big political reason but it just doesn't make sense to me.

I called my family to make sure they were okay. I kept crying when I thought about all the dead. At the time I thought it might be 8 or 10 thousand so I was so grateful that it was only about 3,000 total. That still seems like a miracle to me that more people didn't die that day.

Today is September 11, 2002. It's been a year since that day and I would have to say that I have changed in some ways. I was more distrustful of foreign people for awhile. I didn't want to be but I couldn't help it. I've come to realize how much I love my country. I appreciate the people in the armed services, the firemen and the policemen more than I ever thought I would. I love the American Flag. I was a volunteer at the Olympic Village during the Olympics in February and it made me feel better to see so many different countries come together. Everyone was so friendly and grateful to be there. Most of the athletes were so young, almost babies. I hoped that they would leave Salt Lake, loving the US and US citizens. Maybe they will be a voice of reason in their counties. I don't know, I just have that hope.

And I hope that God will be with us always.