nmah5598.xml

nmah5598.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-08-14

I am from Athens, Greece and i work in a Securities company. I was sitting at my office that terrible afternoon (it was 3.50 pm in Athens), when my phone started ringing. First it was a close friend, then my stepmother..."...you got to see what's happening, a plane rushed into a skyscraper in New york...". I was thinking they're just fooling me. I closed those phones making fun at them saying "yes right, and now let me go back to work..". In the next 5 minutes i had 1-2 more calls from friends and from my stepmother, while i decided to go to the dealing room of the company where they had a small tv set. There i saw the scene of the second plane rushing into the south tower. I was SHOCKED. I went downstairs, back to my office, telling my partners "this is WAR happening in New York" but no one paid attention at me. Minutes later an employee listening to the radio told us that the one of the two World Trade Center buildings had collapsed. Thirty minutes later i decided to leave the office and go home since i couldn't keep working with that shock and my work time was already over, i live only a few minutes away from work. I still remember myself running to home and often recall that when i pass by the same road. It must be only 2 minutes after i opened my tv set while the North Tower started to collapse live in front of my eyes. I will never forget that scene.
4 days after, i bought an american newspaper. there i saw the first pictures of some victims. it was the first time i was looking at pictures of people who lost their life in the towers. i was deeply touched to actually see the human beyond this tragedy. untill then all ive seen was the buildings collapse, but no human stories, nothing at all. one of those pictures. i decided to search information about one of those people in the internet and i found many things. the more i was getting to know about that persons life the more i was feeling the need to find a way to honor his memory. i found his brothers email and i got in touch with him. i expressed my deep sorrow about their loss and i also decided to put up a small tribute web page in his memory. that persons name is Richard Cudina and im really proud that i know about him, even after his tragic loss in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. i am really proud i have the chance to be in contact with his family by email, and share some of their pain. i know that i will honor his memory for as long as im here so he will never be forgotten.
my personal tribute web page to Richard Cudina is:
http://www.geocities.com/forrichardsmemory/
some time ago i had the chance to visit the ground zero in New York. visiting the nearby St.Pauls chapell i saw in my surprise Richards missing report right in the middle on the memorial. it felt just like Richard was there in a way welcoming me in New York. i will never forget it.

my life has changed in a way that i feel the need to share the other peoples pain. this was a world tragedy and those families are not alone in this. we are all together in one world and now i feel i also lost someone in the towers.

everything shall be remembered for many reasons.
1.what happened. because it should never let happen again
2.the victims. innocent people of all rages. it could happen to anybody. those shall never be forgotten
3.who did it. must be found and punished in justice

i dont believe my feelings about american flag have changed. patriotism is good to raise spirits, but always used with care.