story258.xml
Title
story258.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-03-16
911DA Story: Story
I woke up at about 8:00 a.m. central time and immediately (as on most mornings) jumped out of my rig to use either the tire or the restroom. The situation wasn't too urgent so I opted for the latter and headed to the building and through the driver's door. I was hauling foam roofing insulation to K.C. and it needed to be there that day before 4:00, so I called the customer sometime after I finished my business. A woman answered the phone and quickly put me on hold. After a few minutes she came back and told me I should go find a T.V. "I've got a foreman in Manhatten on the other line", she said,"He says a jumbo jet just crashed into one of the twin towers". I said I'd call back later and ran to the fuel desk. "REMOTE!" I shouted. I wasn't really concerned with the dirty look I got. "NOW, NOW!" I demanded, "The World Trade Center's just been hit by a plane!"
I slapped a ten on the counter (people tend to walk off with remotes) and ran for the driver's lounge with half a dozen drivers right on my heels. We got there just in time to watch the south tower pummeled by a huge plane.
One driver started to weep. He lived just miles from the WTC, he told us. They just kept replaying and replaying the north tower's collapse. And just when I started thinking, "Jesus, don't these journalists have any shame? I don't want to see this again!" I realized with dawning horror that I was watching the south tower collapse.
I was priveleged to glimpse the national reaction to these events from a truckers perspective. I saw racism everywhere. And I saw it confronted by bravery at almost every turn. I was there when a man from southern Alabama put his body between a Muslim woman and a racist driver.
I did so myself when forced to see the mistreatment of a man wearing a turban in Knoxville.
I didn't get home to my wife until three weeks later.
Fargo never looked so good.
And althought I miss the road, and the pride of driving a red, white, and blue Mack truck, it would be the last three weeks I spent parted from her.
Life is too precious to spend away from those we love.
I slapped a ten on the counter (people tend to walk off with remotes) and ran for the driver's lounge with half a dozen drivers right on my heels. We got there just in time to watch the south tower pummeled by a huge plane.
One driver started to weep. He lived just miles from the WTC, he told us. They just kept replaying and replaying the north tower's collapse. And just when I started thinking, "Jesus, don't these journalists have any shame? I don't want to see this again!" I realized with dawning horror that I was watching the south tower collapse.
I was priveleged to glimpse the national reaction to these events from a truckers perspective. I saw racism everywhere. And I saw it confronted by bravery at almost every turn. I was there when a man from southern Alabama put his body between a Muslim woman and a racist driver.
I did so myself when forced to see the mistreatment of a man wearing a turban in Knoxville.
I didn't get home to my wife until three weeks later.
Fargo never looked so good.
And althought I miss the road, and the pride of driving a red, white, and blue Mack truck, it would be the last three weeks I spent parted from her.
Life is too precious to spend away from those we love.
Collection
Citation
“story258.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 9, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/5513.