I had taken this particular week off. I felt I could use some rest after a long year of coding, and looked forward to brisk walks in the woods. This morning was easy; I had woken up, read the news, had my coffee and made plans for taking a walk, when suddenly the phone rang. It was my friend Chris from Kentucky who said something that a plane had crashed into a skyscraper, and asked me to pray. I flipped on CNN as he was still talking.
For the next hour, I sat glued to the TV screen. The things I saw etched itself into my mind and which I will never forget. I saw the second plane hit. My mind raced with thoughts concerning the people inside those burning buildings. I knew Sears Tower in Chicago took about 25.000 people. I had no idea how many would die. I remember staring at the TV screen, looking in wild disbelief at the carnage and I thought to myself “I can’t see tower two… I f***ing can’t see tower two“. One of the towers had collapsed. Shortly thereafter, the other tower collapsed as well, and the skyline of Manhattan was forever changed in that fateful morning. I turned off the TV and went for a long walk.
The day after was terrible. I felt like I was trapped over in Sweden while America was in need of help. It was like I should have been over there, helping, aiding, doing whatever I could to be there to share the grief and help carry the burdens. I cried, because I couldn’t be standing on the bridges over to Manhattan and cheer the firemen on as they went to work the days after, searching for survivors and putting out the fires.
My friend Bob used to work for American Airlines, and one of the flight attendants on board those two planes was a close friend of his. As for myself, I ended up making a small donation to the American Red Cross. It was the least I could do. I wish I had done more.
A few months before I had been in Florida on Memorial Day and watched the newly released movie “Pearl Harbor”. I wrote in my travel journals after watching it, that despite all of the everyday America I saw with gas stations, cheap motels, neon lights and all, that “I know that if America is ever attacked again, she will rise up in strength and strike back with ferocious unity and power”. In September, America was attacked, and she rose up and struck back.
Somehow, for some strange reason, my heart is forever tied to America and the American people; I don’t know why. But as I wrote on one site supporting American soldiers overseas: “I stand with you, and I’ll keep standing with you; in rain, in tears, in heartaches, and in glorious victory.”
God bless America.