nmah5166.xml

nmah5166.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-28

We had just come back from a wonderful vacation in the Mediterranean on September 9th. Our spirits were high and the morning was the beginning of another wonderful day in Boynton Beach, Fl. I had an incredible urge to turn the news on that morning. When I turned the TV on, the TV was already tuned to NBC. The Today show was on and I was ready to switch to either MSNBC or CNN when it was announced that there is was a fire at the one of the towers of the World Trade Center. Coupled with my urge to get news and now this unusual bulletin, I had a feeling that something real bad could be unfolding. The announcers seemed confused and unsettled and they immediately went to commercial, so I thought that was a way for them to get more info and come back. Came back they did a little more collected and soon after that with live pictures. I was now toggling between NBC, MSNBC and CNN for more info. The way the smoke was pouring out of the building, I told my wife this is no ordinary fire, something real bad is happening. We thought that some kind of bomb had gone off.
When the second tower exploded, my wife and I now felt that a tragic event in our countries history was unfolding. My first thought of Pearl Harbor all over again now entered my mind. I strongly felt that we were under some kind of attack. My feelings were confirmed when we saw the video of the second plane crashing into the second tower. We were now in shock and horror. We had been to the top of WTC and we knew that there were a lot of people in this building. We first felt that the death toll would be catastrophic. When the towers collapsed our shock and horror increased to the point of numbness. The rest of the day just seemed like a blur and our thoughts were not truly collected until at least the next day.
A few things we felt for certain and this was before the other two planes hit or tried to hit their objectives, that this was a terrorist attack and that this country was no longer immune to such attacks. September 11th will be another Day of Infamy for this country and us.

I am more aware of who is around me and that I can never take for granted anything any more. The saying of "one day at a time" has taken on a stronger significance. Every time I think of 911, I at first become remorseful and then determined that such an act will never happen again.

There are many of those who have given their lives for our country either voluntarily or involuntarily. Like Abraham Lincoln has said in his Gettysburg Address, we should make sure that these people will not have died in vain. We have all most let Pearl Harbor escape from our memories, we should do a better job with 911.
911 should be a day of a prayer and of conviction for ALL Americans.

I wanted to show my patriotism so bad and when I saw some people flying flags from their cars and houses, I wanted to do the same. I will always fly a flag at my house and I have a flag and decals on my car.
I realized that this flag is akin to a picture being worth a thousand words. There is so much behind this flag and there is too much we have taken for granted. We must be continually be reminded that business as usual is not the answer and that time to time we must remember who we are and where we came from.