story5141.xml
Title
story5141.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-11
911DA Story: Story
It was my birthday,
I have an early morning job in Home health care. We live near Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and the jet fighter planes started flying over,as I was on my way home.
I was thinking of what my husband might have planned to celebrate my birthday.
I turned the television on and they were talking about a plane hitting one of the towers. Then another, and I knew it was no accident and I wondered, as I'm sure many did if Tinker would get hit.
It brought back memories of the day Oklahoma City Murrah building was bombed. We live 15 miles away and we heard the bomb that morning.
As the day unfolded, I was again in awe of our people.
My husband works at the local police station as a computer technician and he went into work to help with all the phone calls.
He served in the Air Force and we are a retired military family, so I knew how strong our nation is, both in spirit and militarily.
When the plane crashed in Pennsylvania, and we found out why, the world saw our people would go down fighting and would sacrifice their life for this country as our forefathers did if it was necessary.
The world saw this great nation as a United Nation with helping, caring, loving people. We go about our jobs and live and let live until something happens, then we bind together and make a formidable enemy.
We are a strong nation of individuals, with many many cultures intertwined. This country has come along way since our forefathers first settled in Virginia in the early 1600's. We have problems in this nation that seem unsolvable at times but for so many different cultures to live together as we do, We do pretty good.
The European nations are older, but not necessarily wiser.
We are a young growing nation, rising out of our ancestors sweat and tears. People from those European countries coming to America for freedom, religious freedom, at first, now it is freedom to live as they wish.
The older countries resent our power and our freedom to say and speak our minds and worship as we wish.
Many want to keep their people living in the Old Testament times.
Change in a world is progress and they see it as a danger to their way of life, and it is.
I, as so many other Americans am deeply proud of this nation and will support any effort to bring freedom to all nations.
Patriotism comes from within each individual.
We all have varied feelings about our country.
My birthday has become one of the most remembered days of the year.
my 56th one, no less, and if you are a number person,
5+6=11. Many of such things started popping up on the internet.
The E-mail was full of cartoons of Bin Laden and prayers and many many photos of the twin towers.
This is how people cope with something they cannot do
anything about or help.
They helped us express our views and anger and anxiety through those cartoons and photos.
Many of us on the internet wrote poems or stories to help ourselves express our views and vent our anger. Many website tributes to 9-11-2001 are on the internet.
I am a christian woman and saw many many people turn to God on this occasion and at the same time many asked Why???
A few days afterward, they found steel beams in the shape of a cross in the rubble and that calmed me.
this is my contribution:
A Sign of Life
I hoped and prayed for many days,
the rescue workers would find a sign of life,
a sign of strength and hope
in the carnage of the world trade center.
After all the days of suffering and strife
it looked bleak and forlorn.
A sign of stength and hope
is what I prayed
so we could heal and cope
with our country's great loss
of so many precious and dear lives.
Instead they found a cross.
a cross??
in the middle of pain,
in the middle of ruin,
in the middle of hate,
in the middle of destruction,
in the middle of death,
a cross??
is what they found.
As if they didn't have enough to do,
they made a base
for the cross to stand
upright and tall on this great land
a reflection of mans will to see
in the midst of the worst of time
we havent lost it all,
we wont cease to be.
They found a cross.
A cross of steel all mangled and torn.
A cross of steel for the world to see.
A cross of steel, a sign of hope.
A cross of steel, a sign of strength.
A cross of steel, THE sign of life.
by: Gayl Wells November: 2001
I have an early morning job in Home health care. We live near Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and the jet fighter planes started flying over,as I was on my way home.
I was thinking of what my husband might have planned to celebrate my birthday.
I turned the television on and they were talking about a plane hitting one of the towers. Then another, and I knew it was no accident and I wondered, as I'm sure many did if Tinker would get hit.
It brought back memories of the day Oklahoma City Murrah building was bombed. We live 15 miles away and we heard the bomb that morning.
As the day unfolded, I was again in awe of our people.
My husband works at the local police station as a computer technician and he went into work to help with all the phone calls.
He served in the Air Force and we are a retired military family, so I knew how strong our nation is, both in spirit and militarily.
When the plane crashed in Pennsylvania, and we found out why, the world saw our people would go down fighting and would sacrifice their life for this country as our forefathers did if it was necessary.
The world saw this great nation as a United Nation with helping, caring, loving people. We go about our jobs and live and let live until something happens, then we bind together and make a formidable enemy.
We are a strong nation of individuals, with many many cultures intertwined. This country has come along way since our forefathers first settled in Virginia in the early 1600's. We have problems in this nation that seem unsolvable at times but for so many different cultures to live together as we do, We do pretty good.
The European nations are older, but not necessarily wiser.
We are a young growing nation, rising out of our ancestors sweat and tears. People from those European countries coming to America for freedom, religious freedom, at first, now it is freedom to live as they wish.
The older countries resent our power and our freedom to say and speak our minds and worship as we wish.
Many want to keep their people living in the Old Testament times.
Change in a world is progress and they see it as a danger to their way of life, and it is.
I, as so many other Americans am deeply proud of this nation and will support any effort to bring freedom to all nations.
Patriotism comes from within each individual.
We all have varied feelings about our country.
My birthday has become one of the most remembered days of the year.
my 56th one, no less, and if you are a number person,
5+6=11. Many of such things started popping up on the internet.
The E-mail was full of cartoons of Bin Laden and prayers and many many photos of the twin towers.
This is how people cope with something they cannot do
anything about or help.
They helped us express our views and anger and anxiety through those cartoons and photos.
Many of us on the internet wrote poems or stories to help ourselves express our views and vent our anger. Many website tributes to 9-11-2001 are on the internet.
I am a christian woman and saw many many people turn to God on this occasion and at the same time many asked Why???
A few days afterward, they found steel beams in the shape of a cross in the rubble and that calmed me.
this is my contribution:
A Sign of Life
I hoped and prayed for many days,
the rescue workers would find a sign of life,
a sign of strength and hope
in the carnage of the world trade center.
After all the days of suffering and strife
it looked bleak and forlorn.
A sign of stength and hope
is what I prayed
so we could heal and cope
with our country's great loss
of so many precious and dear lives.
Instead they found a cross.
a cross??
in the middle of pain,
in the middle of ruin,
in the middle of hate,
in the middle of destruction,
in the middle of death,
a cross??
is what they found.
As if they didn't have enough to do,
they made a base
for the cross to stand
upright and tall on this great land
a reflection of mans will to see
in the midst of the worst of time
we havent lost it all,
we wont cease to be.
They found a cross.
A cross of steel all mangled and torn.
A cross of steel for the world to see.
A cross of steel, a sign of hope.
A cross of steel, a sign of strength.
A cross of steel, THE sign of life.
by: Gayl Wells November: 2001
Collection
Citation
“story5141.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 9, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/5444.