nmah2053.xml

nmah2053.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-09

I was at the rural school in North Carolina when the first plane hit the towers. Since I had a student teacher in my class room I was able to leave the class for brief periods. It just happen that I was in the principal's office when a parent came in and told us to turn on the TV something bad was happening in New York. We watched in horror as the building smoked and burned. I went quickly up and down the hall telling the teachers what was happening and telling them not to turn on the TV's in class because we did not want to alarm the children.

When the second plane hit I was in the principal's office again. We were all shocked and dumbfounded. We were worried about what else could happen. It seemed to be a flash back to films and pictures I had seen of WWII.

Then the report came about the Pentegon. I was frozen with fear as my son and daughter in law live and work in DC. I quickly tried to call them. I was pretty sure my son was OK because he works out of the city in Farfax. But my daughter in law was a student at American. I knew she often went to the VA hospital and other sites in DC. I could not get through to them. All the lines were tied up.

Eventually, I got a hold of her mother who told me they were OK but that she had been at the VA hospital for hours as they were afraid to let anyone leave.

When word of the plane in Pennsyvania came I truly worried for their safety.

Parents started coming to the school to pick up their children. We were told by the district supervisors not to tell the children what was happening but to let their parents. They knew something was happening but they did not know what. I felt guilty not telling them but at the same time relieved to know that for one day, one short day, they did not have to see what I had seen.

I have never been to New York City. I've never really wanted to go there. But this summer, as we traveled back from Boston, Mass I just had to see the Manhatten sky line. We stopped off at Liberty Park. I stood across from Manhatten and stared at the space where the proud towers once stood. Suddenly, a man with his family, motioned to us. "Let's move," he said. "There's a book bag lying on that beach with no one around it. No one in New York or New Jersey would do that. We can't be too careful."

It struck me then and there, in the shadow of the Statue of
Liberty and the New York sky line, that our country was truly changed. Land of the free we still are. But no longer can we be land of the carefree.

We still live in the most powerful country in the world. When you are on top of mountain many will wish to knock you down. But as the Japanese found out in WWll, they have awakened a sleeping giant. As I traveled to Washington, Boston and New York this summer, I was struck by how much friendlier people seemed to be. That is what I will try to remember about September 11. Not the smoking towers, or the screams of the people, or the tears of those left behind But the strength of a people that can see past their differences and bond together to protect the life that we have and the country that has provided it.

A flag flies in the grass under my mailbox. But my feelings for the flag stay the same. I am proud of it. But I do not want us to wrap ourselves in the flag....I want us to remember what it stands for, Freedom.