nmah953.xml

nmah953.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-04

I was in my home in San Diego, California, getting ready for work and watching the "Today Show". I watched the events unfold from the first attack. As a native New Yorker, I was in denial about what I was seeing. Several of my family members worked on various phases of the Twin Towers construction (NY Telephone). In graduate school, I lived in Brooklyn and commuted to NYC for work. I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge every day, and saw the towers and the lady in the harbor each and every day. It was comforting to see them there. I watched them fall in disbelief and disillusion.

September 11 made me realize that even though we are all caught up in our own lives, as Americans, we can all reach out to help our fellow Americans. Before 9/11, I would have liked to believe that, but now I positively know for sure. Having lived in NY, I would have not believed the humanity I witnessed after the event. NYC is a different town (and we're living in a different country now). While the events were horrific, it ripped away the indifferent facade that people wore on their faces.

When I hear our national anthem now, all of the words have meaning to me. Before, it was words that I couldn't relate to. Now I can.

That America pulled together like no other country in history as one group, determined to take care of those who were affected. We proved that we were the strongest country on the face of the Earth, and that freedom will always ring here.

I flew a flag from my car antenna, and I, like everyone else in the country, put our national colors on my car with a decal.

Now the flag definitely means "freedom" to me.