Remembering September 11, 2001 on the Tenth Anniversary
My thoughts & prayers go out to all of the victims & the victims families of the awful attacks that took place on this day 10 years ago at the World Trade Center towers, The Pentagon, & Shanksville, Pennsylvania. On this day 10 years ago I was scheduled for an 8AM class to be re-certified in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS). For some reason, I decided not to go simply b/c I was very tired after having worked all weekend & still not having recuperated from lack of sleep by that Tuesday. So, when the alarm went off I simply turned it off & went back to sleep & decided that I would re-schedule a day to get re-certified in ACLS, after I woke back up. Well, I woke up around 10:30 & called to schedule myself for another class; but, I couldn't get anyone to answer in the Clinical Learning Center, which was rather odd. I finally gave up & grabbed me something to eat for breakfast. I then decided that I would drive to Macon from Warner Robins (where I was living at the time) & take care of a few errands that needed to be done. I also decided that I would drive to my parent's home in Danville, GA after I finished in Macon & spend the day with them. I got into my car & naturally I had the radio on as I love to listen to music. However, it wasn't music that I heard. I kept hearing two men talking about the World Trade Center. I just passed if off that it was about the bombing back in 1993. So, I just kept driving & thinking about the things that I had to get done that day & looking forward to spending the day with my parents. However, after I ran my first errand & was pulling out of the credit union parking lot, I heard something that the men were discussing & it involved a plane hitting a building. It caught my attention instantly & I suddenly realized that this was not about the 1993 bombing; but, rather something new that had happened on that day. I quickly finished up my errands & got started on my 40 minute trip to my parent's home, all the while listening to the radio & becoming more & more scared as I caught bits & pieces of what was going on. I still wasn't completely aware of the extent or magnitude of what was actually going on by listening to it on the radio. However, I knew that it was not sounding good. Finally, I made it to my parents house & through the back porch & into my parent's kitchen where my mama was standing there watching what was happening in New York City on the small TV that they have in their kitchen. I asked her what exactly was going on & she said that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center towers. I was in shock with my mouth literally dropping. I went into the living room where my daddy & my brother were watching the happenings. I sat down on the loveseat & began to watch & take in one of the most horrific sites that I have ever seen. As they played back the videos of each tower being struck by a plane, I was literally frozen. I thought . . . how could anyone do this to innocent people. I thought . . . I would have never in a million years thought that someone would use a plane as a bomb & fly it into a high rise building. I mean, the thought had never, ever occured to me. I had no idea as to what to even think at that moment b/c what I was seeing was truly incomprehensible. Then on live TV, the cameras began to capture shots of men & women jumping from the towers. I almost became catatonic at this point. I was literally watching people step out on the ledge of a window & jump 30, 40, 50, or more stories to their death. The sound of them hitting the ground is something I still can not shake from my memory. It was one of the worst sounds that I've ever heard. I would hear it even as the camera was panned onto the news reporter & was not showing the men & women jumping. It was very erie to be watching a news reporter telling you about what was happening at that moment & in the background to hear bodies crashing to the ground. I truly went into shock. Tears came & I hurt so badly for these people. It had to be one of the hardest things that those people had to decide: either stay in the building & burn to death (we had no idea at this point that the towers would collapse) or step out on the ledge of the window & jump to your death. I can not even fathom the pain, saddness, & unjust feeling of their lives being taken early & for no purpose other than to terrorize. To be in their condition & to have to decide to go ahead & die before you burn to death, knowing that you are definately leaving your family, friends, & loved ones behind, had to be the absolute hardest decision these individuals ever faced in their lives. I began to cry & cry for the pain that these people had to endure both physically & emotionally. I stayed glued to the TV all day watching the non-stop coverage. My husband called during this time & said that he had no idea when he would make it home & possibly could have to spend the night at his job, which was with the Department of Defense at Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, GA. So, I was saddened that I might not get to see him that day, but reassured that he was very safe within the confines of the military base & it being on lockdown. Finally, later that afternoon I decided to head home. My husband had been released from work & was home already & we both sat there and watched the coverage. We also both watched President George W. Bush come on with a special speech to inform of us of what had happened & why this happened. This was the first time that I had ever paid attention enough that I heard the name Osama Bin Laden & the Taliban. We knew from that speech that war was not an option to even bargain about. It was a definite! We would go & hunt, find, & kill this mass terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. We knew that we would go after terrorist factions that headquarted themselves in Afghanistan & Iraq. There were no options at this point. We had to defend our country, our freedom, & stop the evil that results from these senseless acts of terrorism. I literally stayed glued to the TV & every news station, CNN, FOX, HLN, CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. to keep up with what was going on. I think I stayed glued to that TV for almost a year, even at work we always had a TV on & we kept close watch on what was going on after this terrorist attack occured to our country. I will say that us Americans became more united & helped one another more than I have ever seen in my lifetime. It brought back the idea of Americana & showing how proud we were to live in America. Flags started popping up everywhere, pins were worn by many with the American flag on it or a ribbon that looked like the American flag. I always had a flag hanging on the front of my house; however, after this, I went out & bought car tags of American flags & American flags that I could attach to my JEEP's windows that would blow in the wind as I drove & would show how much I love America. That is the one positive that I can say came out of this tragedy was that it made us Americans really slow down & help one another, & it helped us realize what a strong nation of people that we have here in America & helped revive the American spirit. I had only 3 weeks prior to this terrible day come back from a week long trip to Hawaii & I visited the Pearl Harbor Memorial while I was staying on the island of Oahu. I began to think that this must have been how America felt when the Japanese bombed Pear Harbor. In the insuing weeks, more worry came about as more & more people received packages or envelopes that contained powder in them. Several people became sick & were diagnosed with Anthrax. That just upped the fear factor for us. Now, we were scared everytime we opened our mail that we might be the next one to get exposed to Anthrax. It was a truly scary time in the history of America. I am very glad to see that World Trade Center 1 is coming along nicely & looking beautiful. It will be nice to see that space occupied again. However, nothing will take away the iconic beauty of those two precious jewels that used to make the New York City skyline even more beautiful & powerful in appearance. We will remember our precious towers in all of their glory & beauty. Let's all take a moment today to say a prayer for the victims, their families, & for the troops & their families that have gone out on the battlefield to protect our freedom & fight against terrorism. They proved recently how capable they are of catching the enemy when Osama Bin Laden was caught hiding out in Pakistan & was eliminated by our Navy Seals. As President Ronald Reagan said to Moammar Qadhafi during a speech to America on April 14, 1986, "You can run, but you can't hide". That truth finally reigned true on Bin Laden. America will continue to heal this wound. It will take a long tme to heal the scars & ease the pain of those days; however, with the building of the new towers, the sores will begin to heal so much more efficiently. God Bless everyone & God Bless America. I am proud to be an American & proud to have been born in the U.S. A. My thoughts & prayers to all.
