nmah6557.xml

nmah6557.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-07-15

I live in Adelaide Australia and my partner and i had just celibrated the conection of our new gas hot water service, with a fabulous bath, we went to bed and sat up watching the late night news. We watched in shock as the news of the first plane hitting the WTC there was live footage from NBC and it really didnt look that big as thhe fire hadnt taken hold. I bored my partner as i relived my memories of New York in the summer of 1987, it was a dreadful heatwave and moving around NY was a chore. I was staying at the New York Vista Hotel built at the base of the twin towers, it was one of the best highlights of my stay, looking out of my window work was going on across the road at the new winter gardens buildings. Anyway my rambelings soon sent my partner to sleep. All TV produtions ground to a holt and televised the story on every channel. I could still only think that this must have been an acident, like the B52 bomber that struck the Empire state building in 1945.
My next memory is eched into my mind as i woke my partner screaming as the 2nd plane disappeared into the 2nd tower and then spewed its contents out the other side, as we watched i new that life asa we knew it had changed forever. It was one thing to have been there but to be sitting on the other side of the globe and watching it unfold live, i then understood why my moher could alway remember what she was doing when the news President Kenedy had been shot, or the day man landed on the moon, we were watching history as it happened.
we filled our bedroom with prayers as we watched the trapped take fate and jump, we cried as the pictures of Washington with the smoke in the background, with confusion as reports came thru of the Pentagon had been hit, I didnt see the first tower fall, my partner called to me from the bathroom, with all the smoke and dust i didnt know if he was joking or not, with that news just starting to sink in i watched in horror as the top of the first hit tower started to tilt and then like a blur she melted into a consuming cloud that seemed to hug New York City for days.

My life has changed, our lives have changed. i sit alone at home sometimes i can't even bear to go out side, i crindge when i hear a plane flying low, i shut my eyes and most of the time i see fire, not the towers all the time but some times i open my eyes and i see the room i'm in erupt into flames, i'm now on antidepression treatment for the past year, i'm am too scared to tell my partner or my doctor of what i see, i can only imagne what it must be like for the folk of NYC

3 YEARS ON I THINK WHAT WE SHOULD REMEMBER IS THAT HUMAN LIFE, GIVES ITS NAME TO HUMANITY. SO REGARDLESS OF RACE, CREED, BORDERS OR SEXUAL ORIANTATION, LIFE IS A GIFT THAT NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TAKE IT AWAY. WAR IS NOT THE WAY, PEACE CAN BE THE ONLY ANSWER.