nmah1246.xml

nmah1246.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-05

I was at work at Hill AFB, Utah on 9-11-01. We heard about it by word of mouth, as I suppose someones spouse called when they heard it on the news. It did not take long for the word to spread to everyone. The events unfold for me, as I am sure they did for most Americans as we tuned in various news sources on Radio, Televisions and/or the Internet. We at Hill AFB went to a much higher security level, as did most Government agencies. As a result, an un-identified package was found and we had to evacuate our work building. Well waiting at the rendezvous point for the all clear from security forces, I was able to use my cell phone to get news off the Internet as to the events continued to unfold. Being a major military supply base with F-16s, our work efforts intensified immediately and continued throughout the year, especially with the winter Olympics being held here. Now a full year later we are at lower security levels however, our tempo of operations still remain high with the world events our military continue to shape in response to 9-11 and I suspect will remain high for some time to come. One item of comfort I had at the time may be hard to understand, but I found a peace and some gladness that my wife had died and was in a much better place and did not have to live through this tragedy. So even at the time, I sought something positive to focus on as the tragedy unfolded. I truly believe that God will make good come from evil and think much good has resulted this year following the tragedy we just call 9-11. I think our nation and world are stressing our value systems/religious beliefs, family, respect of the needs of others be they found in our neighborhoods or half way around the world. This day is starting to make the world a more humane place to live.

As for my personal life, it has not changed much. I do observe more people coming to church after 9-11. I find that those I interface with have a longing to understand and desire to prevent such future tragedies. I may try to welcome newcomers especially those who are of another race or belief than mine. I continue to strive for an understanding and respect for others who have a different value system other than my own. In this regard, pray that humankind learns to live in respect of one another. All faiths of the world, which give us our values, really seem to do teach the Golden Rule. I think things like all the religious leaders who gathered at Assisi, Italy to pray (each following their own beliefs not doing some water-downed communal prayer) for peace understanding and Love is a wonderful beginning. We need to look and stress what we have in common with each other, acknowledge differences with respect. Let a new world order/Globalization of Love for one another prevail.

Evil can and does happen in the world, but there is much we in the world can do to prevent it. It starts by understanding and respecting one another. We do not have to agree on everything but must allow individual freedoms, which respect life and the importance of all humanity. We need to avoid hatred. We may not agree with a different value system but as long as it respects the rights of the individual and all humanity, we should strive to focus on what we have in common. Hatred must be avoided; we must strive to respect one another despite our differences. Evil can and does happen in the world, but there is much we in the world can do to prevent it. It starts by understanding

I have always flown the American Flag, however this last year I did fly the flags of many other countries with our US Flag, as we had the winter Olympics here in Utah and it was important that all nationalities were felt welcome. The spirit of the international games can be a lesson for all to focus on. We can get along and respect one another. We can even have lots of fun well doing it. For just a moment, imagine what the world would be like that had fun with one another rather than hating just because they are from a different country, have a different color, or have a different value system (religion).