nine years ago

[LUVMBDiesels]

Remember 9/11 tomorrow. Say a prayer for the victims of this senseless act or cowardice. Say a prayer that we will have the strength to never forget what happened that day and to never rest until the job is done. Say a prayer for the families whose losses are still so painful. Say a prayer for the responders who sacrificed their lives helping others. Say a prayer for the ones who put out the flames and the ones who sorted the rubble. Say a prayer that this nation can come together again the way we pulled together on 9/12 only without a disaster like this to make people forget their differences

I remember that day like it was today. I was driving in to work when I was forced off the road by 100 fire trucks and police cars racing downtown. I was pretty annoyed at them when I got a call from our Network Operations Center that a plane had hit the WTC. I looked at the sky and thought what kind of idiot could run into a tower on a clear day like this? At first we thought it was a small plane that had crashed. I parked near the data center and was walking to it when I got my first glimpse of the building on fire. I still thought it had to be a small plane as the building did not look damaged but it was smoking. I got to the data center which was a few blocks from the WTC and went in. Everyone was crowded around a radio which was telling of some poor technician who was working on the TV transmitters and who was trapped. I got myself squared away and then went outside to look again. At that moment the second plane came in and hit the other tower. I could not believe my eyes! It was deliberate! I tried calling my friend Sue who lives on the 2st floor of a nearby building and whose balcony looked at the buildings. I could not get through. I did not know that she was on the phone with Channel 2 news describing what she was seeing and she saw the plane make its final turn and crash into the tower. I went back into the data center. By this time the guys had taken a security camera TV and rigged it to get the news. I heard my friend sobbing into the phone that it had to be an attack that the second plane had deliberately hit the building and now they were both on fire. We were all stunned. Then we heard a rumble and the entire building shook. We all ran out and saw the second tower had fallen. We were speechless. I remember thinking that at least the first tower was still standing and maybe it could be saved. It was then that we saw it go down. I was crying and could not believe this was happening. We went inside to think when we felt our building shaking. I told everybody to clear out and called the office to let them know I was evacuating the building. Kelvin true to his Marine training told me he was going in and ran for the WTC. He was a real hero that day. I started to head that way as well but could not get through so I headed to Sue's apartment. She was beside herself and we just hugged for an hour. After that the only things you saw were the papers blowing in the breeze, the only smell was the smell of burned wiring and metal, and the only sound was the sound of the F-15s circling the city.


Those are some of my memories of that day...


I also remember the days after, the days when the entire nation came together as one. Days when it did not matter if you were a Republican or a Democrat, Black or white, legal or illegal, we all came together and the city was quiet. People were nice to each other. the world had been rocked on it's axis and there was a noticeable change.