nmah1250.xml

nmah1250.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-05

It was a beautiful morning, clear skies and a bright morning sun. I was just leaving my neigborhood in The Woodlands, Texas, just a few minutes after 9 am central time. As I listened to the radio, the DJ for KSBJ came on and mentioned there were reports of a plane crashing into a World Trade Center tower in New York, and the DJ then asked for prayers. As I heard this, I changed the radio six different times, and on every setting, there was a report on the crash. Since my commute takes only minutes, I was now pulling into the parking lot. I turned off my car and prayed a prayer and I remember asking God for peace for the day and for those injured in the crash--as I look back, I am thinking how ironic it was for my prayer of peace.

I hurried in, I walked into a large breakroom with a TV--of course, a few folks already had the TV turned to CNN. As I stood there for about 5 to 10 minutes and viewed the burning tower, I thought, "the tower is going to collapse, could it hit the other tower?" I mentioned this to the person next to me--of course, we were all numb, and I received little response. Within a second of my thought, a second plane shows up in the background, obviously taking off, or so I thought. As it neared the second tower, it dawned on me what was going to happen. Shock.

Suddenly, many more people were heading into the breakroom, eyes glued to the TV, amazed to be looking at death in the face. My mind riveted on the people in the building, and my soul wept. It was then, I knew, this was the worst tragedy our world has ever seen since the Holocaust. You see, these were people like you and me--earning a living, going to work, going home to families. And within minutes, I imagined these innocent people were now stuck in a building with smoke and sounds they had never heard before, trying to stay calm, not all of them knowing how fast they needed to run.

As I stood there watching this TV, stunned with the rest of the world, I saw the smoke, and the cameras started to shake as a result of the camera man running. The camera switched to a more distant, stable view, and the world saw the building collapse--oh it happened so slowly it seemed. Too slow. My mind riveted on the fact that people were still in the building. I knew the second tower would collapse too, it was just a matter of time. The breakroom was now full, and tears were not only streaming on cheeks, but on the windows of our souls.

Within a short time, our company held a brief meeting, and the most awesome and amazing thing happened...we were lead by choice in the Lord's Prayer. I never expected a faith in something greater would be experienced in Corporate America. I realized then that Corporate America does have a soul and a heart. It's called "us." We, the people, realized we were so very mortal. We are made up of these cells that form organs, but what makes us so unique, what gives us our souls, our spirits? I think that people knew there was something much greater out there than human beings.

Now I pray for peace. Peace on my heart and conscious, and for peace within our small world because it is so small. My life has changed--but how do you put the catastrophic experience into words? The change happened within the window of my soul and I view the world crying for peace and an understanding that we are just biologically cells, so very mortal, and that we each have a window for a soul. How we look through that window is up to each of us.

The children of tomorrow--teach them about love, peace, and acceptance that all of us have value and worth, no matter what we look like, what we have, or where we are from.

Yes. My feeling on the American Flag is now a feeling of reverence and remembrance for all those that have fought for freedom and independence from oppression.