|
|
|
#560 | Friday, December 21st, 2001
|
|
On September 11, 2001, shortly after the first plane hit the second tower, I woke up to the answering machine. It was my sister-in-law, crying. My first thought was “ Something is wrong with one of the kids.” I rushed to pick up the phone and my sister-in-law told me to turn on the TV. I asked her what channel and she said, “It doesn’t matter, it’s on every channel.” Sure enough, I turned to a local news station only to see Brian Williams practically speechless for the first time. I remember waking my husband only to see the first tower fall on live TV. I cried. All of those people, gone, forever. I still have a hard time fathoming the number of people lost. I did not see a building fall though. I saw children, mothers, fathers, siblings, friends, and loved ones fall. I thought about all of the family that would not have someone coming home that night. When the Pentegon was hit, I could not move or think. It felt as if we were being invaded. I kept thinking, "What target could they have next?" I clung to my husband as we lay on the couch and watched history unfolding. My husband could only shake his head in disbelief. The next thing I did was to call every one of my family members to see if they were ok and to tell them how much I love them. My families employers’ were, one by one, sending them all home and the only thing I wanted to do was be with them. But my employer said we had to stay and come in at our scheduled times. I was in the middle of teaching a 2-week training class and we were behind. We had to work 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm that day and my whole class was upset that any of us had to be there. We took the first 30 minutes and just shared our thoughts and feelings. I could understand why they could not concentrate. I was finding it hard to concentrate myself. We then sat in a moment of silence and then tried to focus on the task at hand. It all felt different somehow though. Nothing would ever be the same and we all knew that. We got off track a lot that night from the training book and eventually just sat and listened to the radio. When I dismissed the class that night, we could not leave fast enough. I am not sure where everyone went that night, but I rushed home to hold my husband and call my family one more time. Two things are for sure though,if we do not appreciate the value of a human life after this, we are no better off than before this happened. And second, no matter who did this, we will not let them run our lives with fear. We will stand untied and we will fight back. We stand untied and we will not fear!!! I have faith in America and I am proud to have been born in a country where we have the rights that we do. Please don't forget the men and women who have helped us maintain these rights since our country was founded.
I did not know anyone personally in the towers that day, but I feel like America, in some small way, knows all of them. They all, along with all of our veterans, now stand for the very freedom of which this country was founded and they did not die in vain. We will see to that.
Amy/25/Ohio
|
Amy | 25 | Ohio
|
#561 | Saturday, December 22nd, 2001
|
|
I WAS AT WORK, BOEING DEFENSE, PHILA. WE WERE STANDING OUTSIDE FOR A BREAK WHEN A FRIEND CAME OUT & TOLD US OF THE 1ST ATTACK. NO ONE BELIEVED HIM TILL WE WENT BACK IN AS THE 2ND ONE HIT. AS WE WERE WORKING, NEWS OF THE PENTAGON ATTACK WAS ANNOUNCED ON THE RADIO. PEOPLE WENT TO OUR CAFETERIA TO WATCH CNN ON THE 2 BIG SCREEN TV'S. WHEN THE NEWS CAME ON THAT A 4TH, PROBABLY RELATED CRASH OCCURED OUTSIDE OF JOHNSTOWN, PA. ASIDE FROM THE STUNNING SHOCK, WE HAVE THE MEMORY OF OUR PLANT SUPER. TELLING EVERYONE THEY WERE ON CO. TIME & TO "GET THE HELL BACK TO WORK"- @ THIS TIME HE WAS BODILY THREATENED & LEFT TO, WE PRESUME, GO BACK TO WORK. WE DRIFTED BACK TO WORK, THEN WE JUST WENT HOME. 9/11 IS ALSO MY WIFES BIRTHDAY- REVERSING OUR EMOTIONS.
|
WM. | 56 | Pennsylvania
|
#562 | Saturday, December 22nd, 2001
|
|
I live in Israel and when it happened I was at work. Someone from work heard on the news about the attack after the two buildings were hit. We were all shocked and sad and it was hard to believe him so we turned on the radio and listened to all the events. We were hardly working that day. When we came home after work we kept watching the news on TV. Everybody here were shocked and it was the talk of the day with everybody. I am so sorry that something like that happened. So many dead and wounded and broken hearted families. This is a true tragedy. Unfortunetly terrorists attack us here is Israel way too often and still, there is no getting used to something like this.
|
Rakefet | 26 | Israel
|
#563 | Saturday, December 22nd, 2001
|
|
I was, like many others, at work but fortunate enough to have a tv on in the lobby. I watched the early coverage with some trepidation as the news people speculated as to what had happened to the WTC. When the second plane hit, it was as if someone had punched me in the stomach. I knew from that point on that America would be changed forever. The freedoms that I and my contemporaries had enjoyed would no longer exist. I felt an extreme sorrow for both of my children since they would not grow up in the same world that I did. The carefree innocence of my childhood would not be theirs. Security concerns and fears of other terrorist attacks would be on their minds.
Never in my lifetime did I imagine those beautiful twin towers coming down...I had watched them being built as a child having lived just minutes away in downtown Manhattan...my heart goes out to all who lost family and friends in this incredible tragedy. God bless the NYPD,NYFD,and all the Port Authority personnel for saving as many as they did.
|
John | 49 | New Jersey
|
#564 | Saturday, December 22nd, 2001
|
|
Where was I.................Like so many others, I was hard at work. A fellow employee, came to me and notified me that a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. I was devestated, thinking "how serious is it?". I couldn't fathom the outcome, and what lay ahead in the upcoming minutes. A follow-up, "A second plane has hit the WTC.", then "The Pentagon was just hit", followed by a plane is down in Pennsylvania." MY GOD! what is going on? Silence, ears glued to the radio, no pictures till work is over. Everyone is scrambling to ready themselves. (Did I mention I am a contractor on an Air Force Base?). By noon all non-essential personnel are off the base, not able to return to work until 3 days later. In the aftermath, all of america is thinking "WHY?". There are no answers to evil, the question is useless to ponder. Terrorism IS evil, in te first sense of the word. Evil IS the lack of all LOVE, without love, there is nothing, no hope, no remorse, no respect, no DIGNITY. Nothing in the heart. How are we to overcome evil if we allow evil to exist? How can we preserve peace, when evil does exist? The answers are not easy, if there really are any at all. I was thinking, "Why didn't they shoot down the planes?", ok, so maybe they didn't have enough warning on the first attack, but surely there was warning enough for the second, the third, the FOURTH. Think about it, how can we shoot down innocent people of our ow blood? What would be the explanation given then, if they did. We couldn't know that the mission would have positively been completed. We can't fathom what s in the mind of someone evil enough to do this act, how can we even begin to imagine that someone would actually fly themselves, and all on board into a building. You couldn't do it, nor could I, we can't think that anybody could. Sure, that was the thought out plan of attack, but to actually do it? How can anyone be 100% sure that a plan like that would be completed. The answer to that, is through torture of a sick mind. A mind that is bred to think that is the RIGHT thing to do, it is what you must do. Anyone who can teach that, or allow their mind to be learned in it is evil completely. All involved must be eliminated..........Kudos to President Bush in his address of the situation.
My prayers and love go out to everyone that lost their lives, all that were left behind to suffer those losses, all that were able to help with all their efforts, to our government for coming to terms about it all, and to all our service men and women. In fact my prayers go out to all of america, we have all fealt the blow that was dealt us, on September 11, 2001. To forget, is to forgive evil, to forgive evil, is to give in to it, to give into it, is to die ourselves.....
.........REMEMBER ALWAYS!
|
Neal | 41 | North Carolina
|
<< |
< |
showing 560-564 of 2527
| >
| >>
|
|
|
|
|
