FEMA: A Nation Remembers, A Nation Recovers

Your Comments One Year Later

To all the FEMA personnel their families, to all the rescue workers, police and port authority, to all the victims and those they loved...... We will not forget, ever, what happened that beautiful fall day one year ago.

I was in a room full of strangers attending a seminar. We didn't know one another but we watched in stunned disbelief as the events unfolded on a huge screen TV. Some of us cried, others sat speechless, still others cursed the world and waved their fists. It was a day like no other I have ever experienced. The emotion in the room took your breath away.....

It took me three hours to reach my family and I remember thinking as I rode home with some of those kind strangers that I wanted only to hold my children and embrace my husband and never let go.....

Rage, Fear, Panic, Horror, Disbelief, and finally Acceptance. All of these were states of being for so many of us. As we tremble as a nation on the brink of war what have we learned? I look forward with a torn and heavy heart. On one hand I support all the efforts of our brave military personnel and on the other I dread the implications of an all out conflict with Iraq or any country.

We have become a nation united but we exist in a world still heavily divided.

As an American I have so many emotions attached to this date. I wasn't home the morning of the attacks. I was in a room full of strangers....we watched the tragedy unfold on a huge TV. Standing sitting, stunned to silence, quietly weeping, angrily ranting.....Never have I felt such raw emotion in a room, and I hope I never do again.

I spent two hours trying to find a ride home to my family, all I wanted was to see them. I live in the Northeastern US so the attacks had the extra element of being too close for comfort geographically. I had an hour car ride with total strangers and all we could talk about was the news on the radio. Beautiful blue skies with scant fluffy clouds over a warm fall day and all we could see and hear it seemed were the flames and horror of what was happening to our Country.

I had neighbors who traveled to Ground Zero and attempted to rescue those who could never be rescued. They spoke of horrors that were akin to a war zone, not the bustling larger than life cities of New York or Washington DC and certainly at odds with a peaceful Pennsylvania field. In the days and weeks that followed I watched people struggle to find a sense of peace with what had happened. I saw stories of heroes and of people not so heroic who attempted to profit from the tragedy. I saw a country united, a world came together.

So much has changed. As the US trembles at the brink of a possible all out war with Iraq I find myself wondering about that unity and its seemingly fleeting nature. I feel for the families of the victims and I ache for the children who will never know their parents or who's parents have been ripped from their lives way too soon. Spouses, parents, siblings, friends.....so many have suffered. Let us not forget these victims and the millions more victims of terrorism all around the world.

Michelle
September 10, 2002

The twin towers might have crumbled, but the spirit of America will never crumble. This has made me love and cherish our country more than ever. As a teacher of World Geography, I will dedicate my teaching to all who lost their lives on that fateful day. May God always bless America!!

Libby
September 10, 2002

I know I am among the few that didn't lose a loved one on that horrible day, 9/11. But because I am an American, I feel as though I lost 3000 friends that I just hadn't had the opportunity to meet yet.

Because in America we are brought up to respect our neighbor...do onto others...put yourself in their shoes... and most importantly, have compassion for your fellow humans.

On this anniversary, my wish is only one. My wish is that all those people that lost a husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother, aunt , uncle, cousin or friend on 9/11th, can somehow gain strength from all of us who care, to somehow carry on yet another year! We can not help the pain, but we can respect you...put ourselves in your shoes...do onto others... and feel compassion for you.

We are here for you because we are Americans!

Annette
September 10, 2002

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