nmah5577.xml

nmah5577.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-07-24

My wife and I and our 9 month old daughter were in New York visiting the city for our first time on the morning of September 11th. We had spent the evening of the 10th walking around Rockafeller square, Radio City Music Hall, St. Patrick's Cathedral and other related areas. I remember it begain raining that night and we ran from door way to door way making our way back to our hotel. It was our intent to go to the World Trade Center, and then on to the Statue of Liberty the next morning. All of the tour guides indicated that you should get to to battery park to catch the ferry across to Ellis Island before 9:00 and that was our intent. As we entered the hotel lobby, my wife suggested I stop by the concerge and get the specifics of what trains to take to get to the WTC.

The concerge told us "Sleep in, its a school day, no need to rush".

So we took his advice, and at 8:30, we woke up to see the first tower on fire from our hotel room just below Broadway.

I remember walking down on the streets later in the day on the 11th, and being amazed at how eerily quiet and deserted all of New York was. Atfter having been there for 4 days prior and hearing all the brake squealing and seeing all the people going about thier lives, it was surreal to see everything so empty and quiet... Almost peaceful after what had happened just hours before.

I was so impressed by how New Yorkers pulled together and in spike of such tremendous adversity and trauma, they all managed to pull together and act as a family. People always say that New York is a cold, unfriendly place, but I thought quite the opposite. It was so amazing to see the lines outside the hospitals on Manhatten where people were just trying to donate blood. We thought it was a good idea too, but just couldn't stand in line that long with our baby.

I still get choked up to this day thinking what would have happened if my wife hadn't prompted me to the concerge desk, and had we not heeded his sage advice.

The pulling together of New Yorkers during this event was truly remarkable and something that I will never forget. It is truly the melting pot of the world and on that day of utter darkness, it stood as a shining beakon to the world that nothing can be done to ever break the spirit of those who are free.

I have one on my car and fly it every day.

As a child of a 35 year veteran of a retired Navy captain, I have always held our flag in high esteem. Now, I reflect on how lucky I am to have every new day with my family, and when I see it, I think about those who were there and were not so lucky as I.