September 11, 2001
God Bless America Today
I awoke to the news. I didn't even really hear the radio when it went off, but I could tell it wasn't Mark and Brian. Still groggy, however, I didn't bother listening too closely, and turned the alarm off, heading off to make my morning toilette. By then the TV was flipped on, and it was clear something had happened. There was no Richard with his weather report (which, by the way, was bizarre, as it was raining here), no local sports or headlines, no wacky animal story. It was national news, it was a tragedy, it was horrific.
The World Trade Center is gone. That sentence doesn't make sence to me, and yet, it's grammatically correct, and everything is spelled right. It doesn't make sence to me because the World Trade Center is a huge, twin-towered building in New York City. Things that big just don't vanish, but it has. It was destroyed by terrorists, who hijacked two planes and smashed into each tower. That was bad enough, but the damage caused first one tower, then the other, to collapse in on itself. I'm not sure at this moment (It's not even nine in the morning here), but there must've still been people inside those buildings, trying to evacuate after the towers were first hit. There were firefighters and rescue and medical personnel on the streets below, trying to help the injured people, and working to extinguish the fire caused by the two crashes. There are no numbers, but the possible number of human lives lost today is so overwhelmingly large I can barely breathe.
About the same time, the Pentagon was attacked as well. I don't have many details on that, as most of the news was focused on the WTC as it disappeared from the skyline of Manhattan, but that's still pretty horrible as well.
I need to try not to think too much today. I need to just sit here and type, and read reports, and count coloured dots on maps, and try to not think about the people on the hijacked planes as they were forced to fly into a builidng. Try not to think about the people working in those buildings, seeing an airplane coming at them, and not being able to get away. Try not to think about the survivors of the initial attack making their way down the stairs of the Towers, because the elevators probably didn't work, thinking to themselves that everything was going to be okay for them, that it was all over, and everything would be okay once they got down to the street, only to have the Tower collapse in on itself, crumbling to its death taking hundreds, possibly thousands of people with it. Try not to think about the panic of the people in the remaining Tower as the first one fell, right beside them, wondering if the same thing would happen to them, only to have their worst nightmare come true just a few minutes later. I'm trying not to think of all those things, but I can't help but think about them. I need to keep typing. I need to read monitoring reports and cover letters and other generic correspondence. I need to fill my brain with useless information, but I'm not sure that I can. My mind is filled with horrific images; what I saw on television, and what my imagination is coming up with. That is the worst. I need to stop that, or it'll eat me alive. I need to get back to work.
I would pray, but I don't know how. I don't know what to say. God bless those people lost or injuried in the hijacked planes, World Trade Center, and the Pentagon. Take them to your heart, and release them from their terror and their pain. Bless the fire fighters, and medical and rescue personnel who were trying to help in New York City, and the doctors and nurses in the hospitals as the injured arrive. Guide their hands as they care for the injured and the frightened. Bless the family and friends of those who were lost. Send them your strength and love. Please, Lord, hold the United States of America in your hands. Send us your love, and give us peace. Amen.
Hez
ESCAPEEscape is suspended for now.
© 2001 hez
Flag border by Frank M. Johnson
God Bless Image Artist Unknown
