(There were really nice pictures posted but they are not showing up now.)
Today marks a day in this generation's history when our World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania were attacked by terrorists...and our president at the time possibly knew all about it and did nothing. Generations after us will look back on this day as we look back on Independence Day...as a day long ago where a lot of people died and it was a sad time for those who lived through it. For those of us that lived through this tragedy...it will forever be burned into our minds and hearts. There are mothers missing children, children missing parents, brothers...sisters...family...friends...gone, and all they did that day was get up and go to work.
On September 11, 2001 I was working in a factory in Maryland...I was 18 years old. I was listening to a rock station based out of Baltimore when the radio host got on the air and said a plane crashed into one of our World Trade Centers. As I began to process this and think maybe it was a fatal pilot error, the radio host came back on the air and said a second plane hit the second Trade Center Tower. My jaw dropped and my heart started to ache for the families of those who were in those buildings...I prayed that the people in the building got out safe. Then, the radio host got on the air again and said another plane hit our Pentagon...this is when my insides froze and I realized this was an organized attack. I had a flash back to my first years in school where they would have us go out into the halls and do a practice drill of what to do if a nuclear bomb attack happened, I realized that we could possibly be invaded and war declared.
The Pentagon
The radio host got on the air yet again and announced that another plane went down in Pennsylvania somewhere. I was waiting for an alert of some sort to start screaming over the radio waves...I pictured TV's sounding off "THIS IS NOT A TEST", telling us to go underground or something. Luckily no more attacks came...but the devastation was far from over. Rescue crews started trying to evacuate people and rescue them from the carnage. As Fire Fighters and Police started going through the building in an attempt to get as many people as possible to safety...one of the buildings collapsed. I watched the footage on TV...seeing the people running in fear, through the debris...I could not even imagine the horror experienced by those who were there.
Watching strong, grown men have an emotional breakdown because of the turmoil, exhaustion, and every not good emotional and mental toll ever known, their look of anguish will never leave me. The faces of those trying to find as many people as possible...the determination...the loyalty to fellow man...the heroism. I could see their bodies weighed down with fatigue...but the fire of determination burned white hot in their eyes. They were not going to stop...the Firefighters and Police, Doctor's, nurses, EMT's...civilians... everyone came together and fought through the blinding dust to get to those trapped inside. Dead or alive, I could see in the eye's of those searching...the defiant assurance that they were not leaving until they found every last body.
Nothing was going to stop us from saving our people, and nothing ever will.
It has been 11 years since this happened to us...we waged war and brought down the ones responsible for organizing this attack on our country and we still continue to seek out others like them. Those who knew the people who's lives were lost in the buildings and on the planes are still trying to pick up the pieces. We lost countless more people when we went to war over this attack...we associate "We will never forget" with 9/11...and the words are true. No one who has a coherent memory of that day will ever forget what happened.
My heart and thoughts go out to any and all who were affected by this devastation. I was merely an American citizen watching and listening to the aftermath on my TV or radio and I still get emotional when I see these pictures...because I remember the pain in the eye's of some of those people that were down there...it broke my heart to watch my fellow man go through such tragedy. I will remember the tears, and the will of the men and women who were at ground zero.
I pray that future generations do not have to experience anything like this...but history has shown that they may have to at some point.
May those lost rest in peace...and may those who lost find peace in living.
If there are any typo's I apologize...this is from my heart and I wanted to express the way 9/11 made me feel the best I could through words. Maybe my children will find this someday and always remember what happened that day. The pictures were found around the internet by google searching September 11 and looking at images.
