story3735.xml

story3735.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was at home and a friend of mine was trying to reach me on my cell phone. I looked at the clock and I was wondering why he kept calling so early, so I finally took the call. He told me to get up and turn on the TV. I said, "Which channel?" He said, "Doesn't matter, it's Armageddon." I stood in my living room frozen, I was so angry and scared at the same time. I was losing it, truly losing it, I couldn't comprehend what I was watching. I felt so naive to have thought that something like this was impossible, and I didn't know what to do next. Then CNBC showed an image, and I'll never forget it for as long as I live. It was a statue of Thomas Jefferson, and there was ash and debris falling all around it, and I thought to myself, "Thomas Jefferson and all of the people who founded this country risked their lives to establish what we have here today. If he were here right now, what would he do? What would he think? And that's when I made a choice. You can either be afraid of everything for the rest of your life or you can fear nothing. I chose to fear nothing. This country and all it's freedoms are worth fighting for, and to quote the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. : "If a man has nothing to die for, then he isn't fit to live." I will live my life without fear, without any regrets and without hesitation. I was truly inspired by how the city of New York came together at it's most needed hour. I was thinking in my mind, if there are any people in the world who can overcome this, it's got to be New Yorkers. I was right. I don't know what the future holds for all of us, all around the world, but I have faith that peace will overcome the evils of this world. My heart goes out to everyone who is in mourning over this tragedy.