nmah3784.xml

nmah3784.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

One of many stories and mine isn't anything special. Just a desire to touch at the heart of and be a part of our great country's support and caring. Caring for those innocent victims who lost their lives 1 year ago today, 9/11/01. I am a 57 year old grandmother. Native American. My son and two of his children live with me.I work full time and generally am up and about at 6:00 a.m., readying myself for work and the day. But this particulzr morning I was awakened by the ringing of the telephone. It was my 26 year old daughter who lives in the same city. Her words, "are you aware of what's happening?" were my first clue of the terrible evil perpetrated upon our country. "What?" I responded. "Turn on the tv, it's all over the news" she answered. "A plane just crashed into one of the New York twin towers, they're talking about possibility of terrorist attack on the towers." And so I turned on the tv and together we watched in horror via telephone and the tv. I got down on my knees at the time of the second attack plane hitting the towers. I prayed to God for mercy - mercy for those people in the buildings and mercy for our country. I had to let my grandchildren, 13 and 10 years old know about what their day was going to hold. My 10 year old grandson was frightened. My 13 year old granddaughter - just the other day mentioned to me that ever since that day, she doesn't feel safe in her school.
The whole day was surreal, I like the rest of Americz, absorbing the reality that the evils of war could be visited upon our shores.
I am today heartened by the great spirit of the American people. It's unbelievable what has happened. We will surivive and we will fight back. God bless our great country and make us tankful for all your great mercies both seen and unseen.

My life has changed. I'm more aware of the fragile nature of our humaness and take that into consideration in my every waking hour. I feel fear and geif in many areas. Fear for my children and grandchildren. What is their legacy going to be? Sometimes when I work to beautify my yard, thoughts come to me, why am I doing this, its possible it could all be destoyed because of nuclear wars. I also think I should be stockpiling food and water. Yet I feel it would be in vain because we'll all be destroyed so quickly we won't have time to think about food and water. I tend to be a person who likes to be alone much of the time. Since then I've made a concerted effort to spend more time with my family and friends, to talk to my family and friends about their interests and thoughts and concerns. I worry that my 11 and 13 year old grandsons will be going off to fight a terrible ugly war. I hope that all of this is just a bad dream.

The people who lost their lives on 9/11 - the people on UA flight 93 who made a choice about their ultimate sacrifice - themselves!!!! Oh God, may they sit at the right hand side of Thy throne. We will always remember the helpless victims who had no choice, those who perished in the towers. The firemen and policemen who rushed into the midst of the chaos to save and help those who were either running from or trapped in the chaos. I always think about certain people I read about who helped each other to try to escape. A couple of men, one in a wheelchair and his friend stayed at his side the whole time while trying to escape down the stairs. I remember others too but not having full details of the incidents, can't list them. But screaming sirens, newscasters' voices, billowing black smoke, people running from, bells tolling, fire burning, a man's brave voice talking on the cell phone to his loved one, saying good-bye and his last words being filled with fear, oh my God, he was in the middle of it and lost his life! I shouldn't have to remember these things because 9/11 should not have happened. But it did. So these are some of the more vivid memories that prevail without my wanting them too. The memories I cherish are those of the
brave ones - the firemen, the policemen, the search and rescue teams and their hard working dogs who worked only to serve man - the families, especially the children, those who perished and those left behind - I read somewhere that one mother describes her child whose father died while she was preganant with the child as "the kiss your father left behind" - I could go on and on, but let it be said, "we will always remember" "we will never forget" those who lost their lives on this terrible 9/11 morning.

I flew the American Flag, yes I did. I have always been proud of our flag, my father served in the US army and my brother in the air force, my sister was in the Navy wacs. My heritage is Oneida Indian. I am and will always stand by this great country. May she always and forever be a fortress against the evil that pervades and may she always protect and continue to work toward the greater good.