Like so many, I know exactly where I was on 9/11, when I learned of the planes that had been flown into the World Trade Center towers.
I was in an airplane, having flown from Austin, Texas, to O'Hare. No announcement was made by the pilots while the plane was in the air. No one aboard knew about it.
After we touched down on the runway and hardly after the nosewheel had touched, my seatmate turned on her cellphone. I was just about to tell her to turn it off until we got to the gate, when her phone rang. She answered and half the plane heard her say, "What? Planes hit the World Trade Center" or something to that effect.
With that, most of the other passengers turned on their phones and began making calls.
The pilot taxied to a holding area and, after about 15 minutes there, he announced what had happened, acknowledging that many of the passengers already knew via their own cell phones.
By the time we got to the gate, the terminals were empty.. As I drove from O'Hare, the roads were empty. I don't remember today why I didn't go directly to my office at the Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates, but I headed on back to Woodstock.
9/11 is now to be called Patriot Day, and the U.S. Flags are to be flown at half-staff. I would prefer that the U.S. Flag be flag at full staff, in full recognition and memory of the 2,977 who died. Flying the flag at full staff can send a clear message to every terrorist that he did not win on that day. Many Americans will pause in silence at 8:46AM Eastern Time; that was the time the plane hit the North Tower.
You never know who is interested…
3 months ago
1 comment:
Hey Gus –
Who among us can’t recall where we were?
I was in my office between the warehouse and production floor at our shipping docks, working out routing and scheduling with our company driver for the day, along with compiling the various shipments and supporting documents expected that day on all other carriers.
As was usual, while we traded jokes, spirited jolly insults and personal stories, we were listening to WXRT FM. Whatever the time was, within 10 minutes of the first attack, the DJ broke in to inform us, simply, that a plane had hit one of the towers. Another update minutes later informed us that it was not a light airplane as had been first reported, but a “heavy”. Knowing that at one time during a “dark and foggy night”, that a B-52 had once hit the Empire State building years ago, I was still of the opinion, lacking any other info, that it was some sort of horrible accident.
Minutes later, they broke in again to inform us that “a second airplane had hit the 2nd tower”. Like everyone else, upon that announcement, there was no mistaking what it was that was happening to us.
The owner of our business opened the doors to his office up front, where his TV was on, and the cable video feed was made available to anyone in the company who had a spare minute, and could come up to the front and watch. Any of us, whether upper management, middle, or factory floor workers found ourselves all together watching the horror unfold, target after target, collapse after collapse.
The world as we knew it had changed irrevocably.
The death toll from this day had eclipsed that of Pearl Harbor. Worse yet, these were predominantly CIVILIAN deaths. As opposed to those valiant deaths we suffered a Pearl Harbor more than 50 years ago, this was MURDER on a scale none of was prepared to acknowledge.
A longtime and dear family friend and her husband worked at the WTC complex at the time. Not in the towers, but at one of the other WTC 3-7 buildings. She and her husband (at least they had each other) were among those you saw trying and failing to outrun the cloud of debris from the first tower collapse. She related how they were not only tripping over building debris during their escape, but over human “debris” as well.
While they lived in the New Jersey suburbs of NYC, normally a half-hour train ride away, it took them more than 48 hours to return home. They were among the refugees that got off Manhattan via boat that day. They were able to rely on mere acquaintances and strangers those next two days - not only to assist them in contacting family and friends, but to house, feed, clothe, console and eventually transport them home.
Their story is proof positive that our society and our Western philosophy can never be vanquished. Yes, we might be “soft” by Radical Islamist and terrorist standards. By their standard, our respect and honor of the rule of law, the sacred authority of the individual, is that which they felt defined as “weak”. That our simple human kindness and respect for individual SOULS will be our downfall.
Yet it is by that very standard, that we are ALL ready to step into the breach and serve our fellow man. While on the surface, we might appear “weak”, in the end, we are STRONG. We still value the individual over any ideology, no matter how seductive.
Ideology may win battles, but it CANNOT win wars. At least not in these United States of America. The Framers were geniuses.
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