story443.xml

story443.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-04-20

I feel a little silly now when I think back to September 11, 2001. I never realized I was so naive. It was a beautiful fall day with bright blue skies and big white fluffy clouds floating in the sky. I was driving my grandson to school that day, when the DJ on the radio announced that a plane had hit one of the towers on the World Trade Center. My first thought was: What pilot could be that much of an idiot to have hit a building so tall and large? In my minds eye I envisioned a little four seater plane that could cause minimum damage. I shook my head with little concern about the event and continued about my business of taking my grandson to school. I wasn?t quite home yet when the DJ announced that a second plane had hit the other tower of the World Trade Center. My reaction was: Oh my God, that pilot was a bigger idiot than the first! He was so busy checking out the accident from the first plane that he wasn?t paying attention and hit the second tower!!! No sooner had that thought crossed my mind when the DJ suggested it might be terrorism. ?What do you mean terrorists??? Who would ever think to do something that awful? Didn?t they realize if they crashed the plane they would die too? What could make someone want to kill so many people along with themselves?? I don?t think that DJ knows what he is talking about, it was just a crazy accident!?

When I returned home, I turned on the TV to CNN. I was not in the least bit prepared for what I was about to see. It was like watching a horror movie!!! I sat staring wide eyed at the TV thinking this was sheer madness. I was watching live coverage that showed all the dust and smoke and debris. I couldn?t believe it was a commercial jet that hit the first building. They had a film showing the tower before it was hit and after. You could see the damage the plane had done and the people running in the streets in mass confusion. People crying and screaming and gasping to get a breath of fresh air. When the second tower was hit, it seemed more devastating than the first. The people running and trying to get away were acting like they just wanted this nightmare to end. Please make it stop!! I could not peel my eyes from the TV. My emotions were building with such sympathy for these people. I had to try to control my stomach to keep from retching. Then it became even worse. As I sat watching all the live chaos, I saw the second tower collapse! There were people down there. That building was now burying people alive. The death and destruction was starting to overload my brain.

The phone rang. It was my daughter in law. She was crying. She was sitting in the parking lot at her kids school. She told me she was so scared, she just wanted to take the kids out of school so she could protect them. I told her that was not a bad thing, this is a time that families need to stick together to love, protect and comfort each other. She left the school, kids in tow, and took them home where she felt a sense of safety and security.

In the meantime, all the planes in the air were told to land. There was to be nothing in the air until further notice. Another plane hit the Pentagon. ?This can?t be happening, this has got to stop!!!!!? A little later, there was a plane missing. It was in trouble. A wife received a phone call from her husband stating terrorists had taken over their plane and he and some other men were going to try to take the terrorists. I was hoping for a happy ending like in a John Wayne movie with these people landing the plane and being heroes. Unfortunately, the plane crashed and they all died, but in my eyes they were great heroes anyway. Good over evil, they tried to defend themselves, they gave it an honorable shot.

I didn?t go to work that night. I could not leave my TV. Radio could not relay the same message. I sat in front of the TV for three days. Maybe I was in shock. All I know is that it is now seven months later, and I still feel the same as I did on that horrifying day. I feel sad and empty, and very protective of my family. I would like to go back to the way I felt before September 11, 2001, carefree and secure in my American Dream, where everyone in the world is kind and caring and gives more than they take. I guess that world was never really there, September 11, 2001 was just my wakeup call to the harsh realities of this world. I pay homage to the heroes of that day, the firefighters, police, doctors, nurses, and the average American person who helped in any way they could. I honor and mourn all the Americans who died that day. Their brave and heroic actions prove to me that although everyone in the world does not believe in the American Dream, we as a nation stand proudly together as one united family. September 11, 2001 was just the beginning of this cold calculated war. Even thought the fighting is not on our land, there are still people dying daily, people we do not know, but who still have the right to live. It?s a sad thing that there are people in this world that feel they need to take another persons life, but this is not a perfect world.

I think I will be sad for a long time, if not forever. I worry for my kids and grandkids, about their safety, happiness and freedom. No one knows the future and the total effect of September 11, 2001. All I know is, September 11, 2001, is one day in history that has affected our world as a whole, and has changed the lives of all Americans. The freedom we began to take for granted has been challenged, and is now a priceless commodity we have found worthy of fighting for.