Posted by
Chris Warren on Monday, September 11, 2006 7:04:10 AM
Getting up this morning I noticed it, that little twinge. It’s not quite a “lump in my throat”, but it’s not really “business as usual”.
5 years after 9/11, I realize the replaying of those events in my mind still hits a very raw nerve. Much has changed in our world since that time. I doubt things ever return to status quo.
I was living in the Dallas metro area at the time. I recall sitting in my cube working, and getting a call from my wife.
“Hey honey can you see the World Trade Center on the I-35 from your floor? I think it got hit by a plane.” “No honey. I can’t see the building from here.”
I got off the phone wondering…wow, that’s odd. Shortly thereafter a girl tore into the office with the full story. It wasn’t Dallas at all. 2 jets had hit the World Trade Center in NYC.
Little work was done that day. We mostly huddled around radios or the conference room TV trying to round up information. Even in Dallas we felt the effects of the attack. A girl next to me was in tears trying to contact her sister that worked a couple of buildings down from the towers. Another lady was trying to call her daughter who worked just near the towers, as well. Yet another girl’s father worked at the Pentagon, and she had cousins that worked in the Twin Tower.
Dallas was not immune to fear and suffering of 9/11.
We left work early that day. I worked in a 12 story building in down town Dallas. Hardly a “must-hit” target for a terrorist strike. Starting that day…no one could be sure anymore.
That evening our church in Flower Mound, TX hosted an prayer service for the community. It was much needed there (as everywhere). Our community had many relocated from NJ and NY to work at Verizon, as well as, many American Airlines employees.
That night everyone cried and vented. There was horror, and fear. Most of all dismay. For some of us, a near blind rage was already setting in.
I remember finishing the evening with a couple that my wife and I were friends with. We ended up eating a Chinese restaurant in town. I remember distinctly how long everything seemed to take as evening at 7 or 8 PM in the evening we all still had our eyes glued to the TV…
I woke up this morning a long way from Dallas, and 5 years removed from that day. Still it burns in my memory, much like Pear Harbor does for those my Grandparents age. I now live in CT, and even closer to “ground zero”. It is not forgotten hear either. (I learned recently that the large U.S. Postal Distribution Center, 2 mile down the road was one of the places that anthrax had been sent through). The events of and after 9/11 certainly aren’t forgotten here.
As I look on the things we’ve done as a nation, following that day. I am proud. We are doing what we need to do. It was never going to be easy. It was going to test our resolve. In the end, taking the fight to the streets and towns that harbored those who brought this act upon us was the right thing to do.
A letter was posted in our church bulletin on Sunday. The bishop made remarks that made it clear he doubted our moral justification for the war and that he doubted that the world was safer. (And my his letter apparently assumed everyone else did).
As I said earlier, our resolve will be tested. It is now, and strongly. There are those out there who still (even with 5 years of no attacks on American soil) naively believe that we are less safe. They believe 9/11 was a chance for peace…but through diplomacy and appeasement.
I believe 9/11 was/is an opportunity for peace as well. Ask those who no longer suffer through the fanatical rule of the Taliban. Ask those who have been able to vote in Afghanistan. Ask the people of Iraq, who are no longer under Saddam’s rule, and who may now vote freely. Are things going perfect? No. But they are getting better.
Did we miss a chance at peace with 9/11? No, we preserved our own, while bringing freedom and liberty to others.