story1182.xml

story1182.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

The morning of September 11th, I had just gotten to work, and as I normally do, I went to my desk, turned on my computer and my radio. Just as I turned on the radio, I had heard the unconfirmed report of what was thought to be a small plane hitting the World Trade Center. But as more reports came into the radio station, it was clear that it was NOT a small plane, and seemingly since it was a crystal clear day outside, neither was it an accident. And sure enough, just a few minutes later, I heard reports on the radio of yet another plane hitting the other Trade Center tower. Of couse it was all chaotic at that point - no one knew what to think about what was going on or why.

I turned up my radio so my other nearby workmates could hear what was going on, as it became clearer that this was not just an accident. Some workmates listened intently, others became worried about family and friends that were down in the lower Manhattan area. I tried in vain to get some information online from the various news sites, but the traffic on the internet, not surprisingly, bogged down all the major sites. It was daunting to know that the sites we all had come to depend upon during lesser events were at the very least temporarily disabled due to the traffic coming to them worldwide.

I called my wife who was home and pregnant - she was supposed to go into the city that day to meet friends for lunch in midtown. I called (waking her up), to tell her that she was not going into the city. She could not understand why not - telling her to turn on the television, she did, and viewed the image of the second plane hitting the second tower. Immediately she knew her plans were no longer.

One of the VP's actually ran out to Radio Shack and picked up a small 13" color television set and antenna to set up in his office so we could see what was going on (we have since had satellite TV installed at our office).

Stepping outside of my office (it is a one level building), we looked in the direction of the Trade Center (which could not be seen only because other, taller builings in our neighborhood were in the way), we could see the rising smoke, ash and dust in the distance.

As the morning went on, and the scope of the tragedy was realized, an announcement was made over to public address system that if anyone felt compelled to leave, they should feel free to do so without hesitation or penalty. Sure enough the building of about 250 employees became a ghost town a short while later (by about noon).

I finally left the office around 2:30PM for a relatively short 13 mile drive back home in Queens. Knowing that all the major highways and parkways were shutdown, I took the streets all the way home. The streets were relatively normal in the amount of traffic, but I found it so surreal as I was taking a major road home and on the route home, on the side of the road (near the Nassau County / Queens border), in an old abandoned buildings' parking lot were a bunch of emergency vehicles lined up from various Fire, Ambulance and Rescue companies seemingly from all around Long Island, all waiting anxiously to get called in to the city for the rescue and recovery that never was.

As I got closer to home, on the road that I was taking, at a certain vantage point, the towers were able to be seen in the horizon. This day, all that could be seen was an ominous white cloud hanging off in the distance where the towers once stood.

I got home kissed my wife and sat the rest of the day and evening staring at the non-stop coverage on all the local and national / cable networks.

The poignant moment of all this was a day or two later watching television and seeing stories on the news how various other countries reacted to the tragedy here in the United States. And to see the stoic changing of the guard in England playing the United States national anthem whereas they normally played God Save the Queen (which I had seen in person only a few months prior), brought a big tear to my eye.

In March, I had my first opportunity to go into lower Manhattan to go to a wedding. I used to work in the area of the World Trade Center, so I know the area quite well - as we drove down into lower Manhattan and passed by Liberty Park (across the way from Ground Zero), a chill went up and down my back to see how the landscape had changed so dramatically - it was like I had never been down there before - it looked so different from what I had come to know of the area. Though it was neat to be down there that March evening, so close to the site, to see how intense the towers of light memorial were for the 6 month anniversary.

Recently, flying home from California, I sat next to a gentleman from Long Island who is with a firehouse out of Brooklyn who told me about his experiences on that day. He told me how he was trapped and rescued and spent several weeks in the hospital, and how seven members of his firehouse were lost and not even a trace of any of them were ever found. And he told me of some of the horrors that he saw while helping to dig through the debris looking for his firehouse brothers. He still is fighting fires, but also, now does training seminars and speeches in other communities across the country regarding how to handle such tragedies and relays his experiences. He was even kind enough to send me a beautiful t-shirt, which I will wear proudly, commerating those seven men that were lost in his firehouse.

My final thought to be placed on here is of that gentleman out in California that is an athiest - although this has nothing to do directly with September 11th, it does indirectly - in this time of sorrow, rememberence and unity, although this country was built on the "seperation of church and state" and "freedom of speech" and "freedom of religon", (interpet those freedoms how you want), don't forget that these laws were meant for ALL citizens of the United States and just by saying the word God or adding the word to the back of your money (In God we Trust), does not make the government a "sponsor" of any one religon nor does it say that you have to be subsribed to any particular religon or any of those regligon's philosophies. Instead it acknowledges the fact that god is an integral part of many people's lives who either are natural citizens or naturalized citizen of this country. For the government to bow to the wishes of one individual or one group (i.e. athiests), is the equivelant of the extremes taken by the religous fanatics which have since been ousted in Afghanistan or the governmental bodies in places such as Saudi Arbia which says you MUST practice their way - and that there will be no tolerance or opening of minds, for any other belief other than their own. So if you can't stand to let others beleive in whatever god or practice what it is that they beleive in (as long as it is done peacefully), then simply put: SHUT UP AND GET OUT!