Saturday, September 11, 2010

Never Forget

It's been nine years. In some eyes that's a life time, in others, it was just yesterday. Many of us were at work or in school, we were just going about our day. It was just another Tuesday. Nothing special. I can remember getting ready for a meeting at 9am. And by getting ready, I mean I was doing the water cooler talk around the coffee machine. Just a typical Tuesday. This was just north of Downtown Atlanta, just to give some perspective.


Then the phones started to ring. First it was a co-workers wife calling from home. She was saying something about a fire and a plane crash in NYC. So the first thing we do is turn to the internet, which by 2010 terms, crap. Everything was slow, CNN, ABC, NBC. You name it, we had a hard time getting to any site that may have information. Then others started calling. It was unreal.


Just as we were leaving for our meeting, yes we were late, my co-worker yelled out, another plane just crashed into the Twin Towers. At this point, we knew something was wrong. We just didn't know what. So we went off to find the radios and TVs that were in the building. We finally found someone that had a live feed from a news channel. What we saw was something that we could not have imagined.


For me, I was on the phone. A friend of mine was in NYC on business. I had just spoken with her over the weekend and she talked about taking the train from DC to NYC. Problem was I didn't know where in the city she was going to be. I called and called only to get a busy signal or the circuits are full message. After repeatedly trying, I moved on to call her sister in Dallas, TX. Maybe word had gotten out and she was okay. When I reached her sister, she had not heard from her yet. I kept trying and trying.


The problem was not only was she in NYC where everyone was calling, she had a DC phone number. And as we learned, those bastards crashed a plane into the Pentagon as well. Later that evening I was finally able to reach her and she was on the other side of the city, safe.


As the news came in, we learned of a plane that was down outside Pittsburg, PA. We had a co-worker in class there and we couldn't reach him. He ended up having to rent a car to drive back to Atlanta, since there were no flights coming or going.


So back in Atlanta, while all this was going on, we started watching our skyline. We had a perfect view of Downtown Atlanta. We didn't know what was going on. Soon, word got out that air travel had been suspended. That the President was flying to an unknown location. The ranking members of Congress, White House and the Courts had been moved to unknown locations.


What the hell was going on. Later we learned it was a Terrorist attack, later found out it was an Attack carried out by Islamic cowards. Plan and simple, it was an attack on the US people and our way of life. There is no other way to put it.


I can remember watching on the one feed we had as the Heroes ran into the buildings. There were thousands of souls in those buildings and they needed someone to save them. So the brave men and women of the NYC Fire Department , NYC Police and the Port Authority ran into those buildings. We saw them helping people escape the chaos that was Ground Zero.


Even after the second plane hit, those men and women continued into those buildings. Their job was to save lives and that's what they were going to do. No one thought that the buildings would come down. No way those buildings could come down. And then it happened. The buildings came down.


First the South Tower and then about 30 minutes later the North Tower fell. During those 30 minutes, you could still see the Heroes running into the buildings to try to save lives. Never in my life have I experienced anything like this. I have seen hurricanes and tornado damage, but to see the destruction that occurred on this day was unheard of. How could something like this happen.


Jump to 2010, many have forgotten. Many have never believed. Many just don't care.


For me, this is a day that I will never forget. I will ensure that my children never forget. I will make sure those around me never forget.


This day was a day that was an attack not just on NYC and DC, but an attack on each and every one of us. This is something that should never be forgotten. EVER.


Many will be turning on games today, but I want each of you to take a moment. Nearly 3000 lives were lost, but thousands more were touched by this day. Those are the ones we need to think about. You should also thank a policeman and a fireman. As those will be the ones running into the building to get you out. Those will be the ones that will save your life. Pray for their families that they come home each day.


If you were offended by any terms used in this post, then don't come back to this blog.


Photo via delong on typead


No comments:

Post a Comment