Tuesday, September 12, 2006

9/11/01 (Five Years Later)

I remember. I had to wait until now to post about it because I worked yesterday.

I was driving my daughter to school and listening to the radio. I heard them say something about the Twin Towers. I thought, "is it the anniversary of the day someone put bombs in the garage there?" So when I got home I turned on the tv. Just in time to catch the second plane hit. I can't remember what I was wearing, simply that it was something I'd thrown on. But I remember dropping to the floor in absolute shock. I stayed glued to the television and watched those beautiful towers. I saw people jumping out of windows and was horrified. I was still thinking to myself, "but if they just wait...." And then, it happened. The second tower fell, and the first soon followed. It solidified in my mind at that moment, "Those people knew there was no way out." Which was followed quickly with, "How many innocent people just died because some people don't like our government?" I sat and sobbed. I had to work that night, and I took my radio with me so that I could listen. I took one of my emergency candles out of my emergency kit in the car and lit it. That candle continued to get lit every day until they'd declared that there were no more survivors to be found.

I watched the coverage of the Pentagon and I remember being sort of numb and thinking, "Well at least not as many people died there."

And then they talked about that 4th plane, the one that crashed before it reached it's destination. I prayed that it wasn't an "accidental dump" by the stupid terrorists but that perhaps some brave person or persons had managed to turn the tables at the last minute. That's exactly what we all found out later had happened.

I have two brothers in the Marines. The eldest narrowly escaped being sent over to Iraq during the Gulf War. But he's in Iraq now, for the third time. The younger brother has been over once and is scheduled to go over again soon. I worry about all our soldiers there. I mourn with the families left behind when beloved soliders are killed.

I'm disgusted that our president used yesterday as an excuse to justify his personal vendetta against Iraq.

2 comments:

Teresa said...

I was at work at the school when one of the wife of the guidance counselor called and told us a plane had hit the Twin Towers.

Dai - thank your brothers for me!

daionara said...

Sure. The older brother is home now and just finishing the rest of this stretch before he retires. I can't believe he's not even 38 yet and he's been in the military for almost 20 years.