7:50 AM. I was a third grader at Lakeside Elementary. So that would put me at about nine years old. We had gone to PE or something and had just come back to our class. We were met with an extremely unusual site: my teacher was watching TV and had a stricken look on her face. When we came in, she quickly turned the TV off and got the day started. But she wasn't fast enough. We all saw planes going into these two huge buildings. We didn't know what exactly was happening. We didn't know why all our teachers were acting so weird. We didn't know anything other than something bad had happened and no one was telling us anything.
Around noon. Some parents had come and picked their kids up from school. I'd heard that whatever had happened was in New York, but I knew nothing besides that. We were having a "normal" school day with lessons and recess. But it wasn't really normal. The teachers were acting off. We knew something was wrong. We just didn't know what.
3:15PM. Tanner, who was in first grade, and I walked home. I don't remember the walk or anything, but my mom didn't pick us up, so I guess we did. By the time we got home, Tanner asked my mom if everything was okay. Because you can't tell a first grader about a terrorist attack, she said that everything was fine and Tanner went upstairs to go play. But my mom told me more information. She said that some people had taken control of planes and crashed them on purpose into two big towers in New York. She said that lots of people did not make it out alive. Then she told me that my dad was in New York. I was in third grade--I just knew that my dad traveled a lot. I didn't really ever know where he was. Mom assured me that she had talked to him and that he was perfectly safe and totally okay. But she let me watch parts of the news.
Friday, September 14th. My dad, and another guy from our church, got back into town. They had driven from Manhatten, which had been completely closed for some time, to Dallas. They came to the Coppell vs Jesuit game. The CHS band did a moving piece dedicated to those who lost their lives on Tuesday.
The story of Mike McCord.
My dad was about to leave his hotel room to go to a meeting in the North Tower (the first one hit). His meeting was at ten in the morning. The towers were hit at around nine. So my grandfather calls my dad and his phone didn't ring. But he had a voicemail. My dad calls my grandfather back and is told to turn the TV on. He sees the footage and agrees that he probably shouldn't go to his meeting on the 43rd floor. The next day, September 12th, my dad stood in line all day to give blood. He said that he made several new friends and that street vendors and pizza parlors were just constantly coming by and giving them food and drinks and encouragement. He said that he was one of the coolest things ever. A day after the biggest terrorist attack in American history, the first time we'd been attacked since Pear Harbor, New York was already alive again.
A letter to al Qaeda:
In case you haven't realized, you didn't win. You got a nice reaction out of us. But, obviously, you didn't win. You're like the bully on the play ground, just more extreme. You come in, seek and destroy, and call yourself victorious. But who is hiding in caves and planning cowardly actions? Who is being hunted by countless governments? NOT the USA. We've recovered. We came together as a nation. Do I get mad every time I see victims lists from that day? Yeah, absolutely. But am I also inspired by our victory? By the fact that a nation of 300 million came together? Yes, yes, YES! So, in your face, al Qaeda! You've lost in the long run. We're Americans. And we are proud of it. And we're not going to rest until every last one of you has been terminated.
A special shout-out to all policemen and firemen out in our nation. Y'all are amazing.
"Because I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died, who gave their life for me. And I'll proudly stand up next to you and remember still today. 'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land. GOD BLESS THE USA."
No comments:
Post a Comment