story3314.xml

story3314.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

Subject: September 11, 2001 Experiences and Thoughts

Date: September 14, 2001

I flew into Dallas Fort Worth Airport at 7 a.m. Tuesday, September 11, 2001 ... after having a wonderful visit with my son in Lubbock .... while awaiting my 9:50 a.m. flight to Nashville I went in search of a bag of pretzels .. Oh my Lord in Heaven .. what did I find ... I looked up at the TV in the bar/eating place near gate 25 at DFW and wondered why the TV was showing the World Trade Center Bombing ... when I turned to ask what was going on ... I saw the second aircraft fly into the second building and noticed the "LIVE COVERAGE" caption on the screen .. never have I felt the feeling that came over me ... literally "came over me" ... it was like a splash of cold water, my hair stood on end, cold and numb at the same time ... a few minutes later .. when the aircraft flew into the Pentagon .... I knew that we were at war ... WAR .. I looked around to see if I was the only person stunned and trying not to go down to my knees in horror, surely to God it was a dream, a nightmare I was in ... as I looked back into the corridor and room ... no less than 150 people were standing there crying, hugging one another, speechless substantiating the fact that this was true cold reality .... I'll never forget the overall silence of disbelief and I will never know the innocent life of the days before September 11, 2001 again. A very dramatic statement I know ... but the truth.

Isn't it funny how approximately 30 minutes can change a world and a way of life .. the gruesome horror of the act .. the touching humanity that resulted from that act is comparably unbelievable .. during the time I was in Dallas everyone walked trying to find that "first way home" but also met each other eye to eye, you did not meet one person just walking down the corridor of the hotel or airport that didn't look at you directly, maybe not a word was passed but compassion was relayed to each other by a look ... we shared stories ... I think possibly because we were "all in the same boat" as it were, but also we had to reach out to each other and needed human contact so badly and although we'd never met before, and will never meet again, if we didn't, we'd go mad alone in our grief, separated from our families as we were.
You know ... I want to stop thinking and crying and re-living just what I experienced which is so very small compared to so many others, but I never want to forget my initial feeling .. the impact I received when I didn't know when I'd get home ... when I witnessed first hand the basic core of people in that airport and motel from all nationalities that didn't look at the inconvenience but showed their instinctive act to reach out and help and calm someone that needed it more than you.

I want to thank .. the boy sitting next to me as we watched the initial horror, he let me borrow his cell phone to call Steve because the lines were so great at the pay phones and I so desperately needed to hear his voice ... to the employee at the ticket counter at ASA that called Elliott for me in Lubbock and allowed me to tie up his line to talk with my son ... to the security lady that told me exactly how to reach a phone to book a hotel at the airport ... to the security guard that talked to me and calmed me and showed me where to wait for the shuttle to the motel ... to the lady named "Sun" that booked my motel room when so many others had to be turned away ... to every person I met and talked with and empathized with during those 3 days in Dallas. I will always remember the fellow from Montreal and the guy from Nigeria who tried to explain Islam ways of believing to the lady stranded from New York who brought it all so much closer to us by not knowing if her nephew, a firefighter in NY and a cousin that worked at the WTC was alright or not. To the lady from Albuquerque that had brain surgery the year before and survived, to the guy that lived in NJ but was born at Fort Campbell, a self proclaimed "army brat".

I'm home now, my flag is flying, I pray more now than I've done in quite some time ... I don't think I'll ever quit praying .. I think of our wonderful parents and family that have died .. and I think of God taking them knowing how much they can help Him with the great influx of souls soaring up over the past days. Just as I think of the people that died during and after the events on September 11 ... you know, I've always wondered what my purpose of life was .. we know their purpose of life ... it was to bring us back a unity that I don't think has been felt since the depression. I remember my Mom every Christmas as we put up the Christmas tree at our home and as we uncovered those clear blue ornaments that Mom said were made during the depression and she would tell us every year about how people of every class being one and helping each other and having a common cause and goal due to the outside influences beyond their control at the time. Here we are again, this is our call, and the lives lost this week had meaning not only in the people that knew them as they walked in life ... but now to us that will never know them personally, but we now know their souls and spirit and it's up to us to never let their life purpose be forgotten. May we all pass away from this life with such a noble purpose.

Now is the time to forgive and forget past anger and injustices ... now is the time to embrace everyone and everything that has made you what you are today and what you will be tomorrow. May my God and your God watch over us and give us peace and wisdom this day and forever.