US Flags
Share Your Stories And Opinions Of
September 11th, 2001
Stories

Show Top Posts: Show All Posts:
 my thoughts on 9/11
Posted by: John Polatz from Key West, Florida
Tuesday July 22, 2003 @ 08:06 PDT

my wife, susan, and i were residents of baltimore on 9/11, and susan was working at the federal reserve in dc on constitution avenue (across from the department of state). i remember dropping susan off at the marc train station in baltimore at 7:30 or so and then heading to work. my mother, who still lives in the meadowlands area of nj where i grew up, called me at 9:00 am to tell me a small plane had just hit the wtc. having just received my pilot's license, my mother loved to relay to me every story about a small plane that made the news. by 9:30 am, after the second plane had hit and there were unconfirmed rumors of planes hitting buildings in dc, i was in the car driving 110 mph down to dc to get my wife. she had left the fed when it evacuated and walked 5 miles north before i found her on the dc border with md. needless to say, it was a very emotional moment for both of us.

later that evening, we experienced something that, for us, was one of the eeriest moments of that day - no airport traffic over our home in baltimore towards the bwi airport. never before in my life could i recall a period of time where the skies were so quiet, so barren of noise. the silence was deafening...

three months later, we decided to move to manhattan and defy the threats of biological plague and terrorist submission, all the while lamenting in my mind that the towers i had known so well in my childhood ceased to illuminate the skyline from clinton terrace in lyndhurst, nj.

now, almost 2 years later, the demons of 9/11 still weigh on my mind as i have admittedly not yet come to grips with the events of that day. i guess fortunately for me, i knew no one well who died that day, but unfortunately, that reality does not allow me to view it any less personally. i love the people of this country, especially those who do not even realize that they comprise the very fabric of this country - i.e. those who go about their days without need for public approbation or personal gain. in my mind, people like those are true americans, and, in my mind, the 3,000 or so who perished on 9/11 fall into that demographic of "americans."

no religious or political ideology ever concocted - including that of the united states itself - could ever justify to me the acts of 9/11. i would like to think that mankind will someday avail itself of these seemingly ignorant and naive allegiances to religious and political ideologies, and one day come to grips with the tangible, observable reality that every man and woman is exactly that - a man and woman - and not some person, thing or object standing in the way of a perceived objective.

many regards,
john