story20407.xml

story20407.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2006-09-11

I have no personally tragic story from 9/11. I lost no loved ones in either of the towers. None of my friends were any of the brave men and women on the plane that crashed in PA. And I don't know anybody who works at the Pentagon. I know people who's boyfriends or girlfriends or husbands or cousins, etc. died, God rest there souls, but I have no direct loss. However, I am still hit by the disgust I felt at 9am on Tuesday Sept 11th 2001. I worked as a server at an IHOP at the time, and had to be at work at 9:00. So I was walking to work when the first plane hit. After I arrived and dressed myself for the shift, an co-worker tells me "A plane crashed into one of the WTC towers," and of-course... I didn't believe him. So he pulls his phone out to show me the news update on his phone to prove ONE plane had hit when the update got UPDATED and we found out about the second plane.
There were a lot of customers in the restaraunt at this time and no one had any idea what was going on, they just saw all of the servers bunched up in the smoking section trying to make a paperclip work as an antenae on a TV. I told what customers I got over the next few minutes, and they either left or joined the servers around the TV just in time for the UPDATE of the Pentagon attack.
I stepped outside to have cigarette a few moments later and in a 5 minute perod saw a half dozen jets and 4 choppers fly just overhead. Of course, all of us were speculating and saying we were at war and were under attack, but after seeing the attacks on TV and our military move into action and patroling the air so quickly, there was no doubt in my mind that life as Americans knew it was about to change forever.
I later found out that my father was supposed to be in the Pentagon doing some electrical construction at 930, but was stuck in rush hour traffic and saw the whole thing go down from a bridge a few blocks away.
I thought it was amazing how we, as Americans, pulled together in the face of terror and horror and united as one.... For about six months. If only we could have kept it up. You see, our global unity ended with the dropping of the first bomb and the first rounds shot off by any soldier. Americans were back to being Americans... Tougher than anyone else. And to prove it, we'll bomb the hell out of you. And when people see these kinds of actions by our leaders, of course they're gonna say things like "F--kin Towel heads" and tell people to get the hell out of "OUR COUNTRY", as if we didn't migrate here in hopes of a better life to at some point.
Humanity is all about what happened after the attacks of 9/11/01. Now if we could just remember how we felt on September 12th, 2001, and try to have that same sense of Patriotism and Humanity, then and only then, will we be able to say UNITED WE STAND.
Thank you for reading my rant. Never Forget..........