September 11 Digital Archive

nmah4180.xml

Title

nmah4180.xml

Source

born-digital

Media Type

story

Created by Author

yes

Described by Author

no

Date Entered

2002-09-11

NMAH Story: Story

On September 11, 2001 I was in West Palm Beach, FL. That morning I attended the kick-off breakfast for the local United Way. In leaving the hotel I was listening to the radio and picked up on the end of a conversation of a plane crashing into a building. Upon scanning radio stations, not many were playing music. I started to wonder what was going on!?!??!?!?!

The constant talk had me shocked to hear what happend and the continued chain of events that morning. I went back to work at the municipality I worked for and remembered feeling scared. SCARED? In the good ol' USA? Yes, scared. What was happening? What can I do?

My mother called, she was shakken by the accounts also. She told me to be careful, knowing I worked for a government agency. Her company's main branch was located in tower 2 of the WTC. She knew of people there.

Now 1 year later I can still remember laying in bed at night and hearing the military air craft flying overhead. We didn't live to far from the coast and the constant sound of jets flying overhead during a 'No Fly' time was frightening.

One evening my boyfriend and I went to the local inlet to the Atlantic Ocean; neither of us could sleep. As I stood out on the jetty you could hear the turbulance form the jets flying overhead, but you could't see a thing in the moonlight sky.

Why I wondered? Why did so many have to die? Not only New York, but D.C. and PA too! I will never forget the fate of the thousands of people that day. As the television showed the towers collapsing, the Pentagon crushed and the scorched Earth in PA, all I could think of was the people. The people, the people. Those people in those planes, buildings, cars, streets.

Did I personally know anyone killed by this dreadful menace? No. But the effect it has on me, I cannot explain. I just want to cry, I want to absorb some of the pain they may have felt knowing they were going to die and the grief, the grief that the friends, family and citizens feel.

I will not let terrorism change me. I will forever remember the acts of those who have changes my country. But I WILL NOT LET THEM TAKE MY COUNTRY DOWN. People commit terrible crimes everyday. Americans kill other Americans. In the end we all have to answer to a higher power.

You can kill Americans, but more will be born. You can kill Americans, but more will defect. You can kill Americans, but more will be found. You can kill Americans, but you cannot take the American Spirit.

If there is anything that I hope is learned from this tragic event it is: That we are all people. We share the Earth with other people, animals, plants, water, minerals, fire, elements, etc. Because I do not look like you does nt make me bad. Learn to accept one another regardless of skin color, religion, tastes, or choice of companion. Racism comes in many forms and one particular race built this great country. Yes, built it with their own physical labor.

Please be proud of who you are and accept those that are not like you.

NMAH Story: Life Changed

YES! I grieve for people I never knew. I try very hard to accept everyone for who they are. I will not change the way I live my life. I live my life for me. I am a human being and I have choices I make on my own. I will not die regreting anything. Tomorrow is not promised, but the moment I am in is what I have control of.

NMAH Story: Remembered

Not only did people die in New York, but also at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.

Those who parished were not only police and firefighter/ems, there were business people, laborers, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, white people, black people, yellow people, brown people, women, men, babies, adults, gay people, straight people, rich people, poor people, etc. They all suffered the SAME FATE.

NMAH Story: Flag

The American flag has always stood for FREEDOM. Many people before 9-11-01 died for the American flag. It will always be a symboly of FREEDOM and the history of our great country.

WHITE is for PURITY
RED is for VALOR
BLUE is for JUSTICE

Citation

“nmah4180.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed September 28, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/40326.