Getting It Right-I Will Never Forget!

September 13, 2007

By: Sid Riley

This column presents a non-partisan, conservative viewpoint about items of interest in our community and our lives. Focus is on items that are impacting your pocket book, your personal freedoms, and your rights. I hope that you will read the column regularly and that it occasionally influences your opinions and actions. Now, on to the subject of the week:
"September ll, 2001 will be a day that I will never forget…I was there!"
At the time I was working on a management consulting/engineering project for a client that had their company headquarters and distribution facilities located in a small town in Amish country near Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They also had a large sales suite in an upper floor of a New York skyscraper on 34th near Madison Square Gardens. It was a beautiful, sunny early fall morning as the company comptroller and I drove into the city.
The morning sun shone like a bright searchlight as it reflected from the windows of the beautiful twin towers that seemed to stand as sentinels over the island. Then through the tunnel and up into the busy world of Manhattan Island.
We arrived at a nearby parking garage at a little before 9:00 AM, parked and arrived at street level. As we walked the two blocks to the building where the offices were located I remember a red, double decked English style tour bus fully loaded with wide eyed tourists that turned in front of Madison Square Gardens and headed south towards the financial district.
When we entered our building and were waiting in the elevator lobby, someone stated that an airplane had just hit one of the towers. The conversation led to the conclusion that it was probably some small plane that had accidentally made a pilots error and had hit the structure.
When we reached the upper floors and entered the company’s sales offices, everyone was gathered at a large picture window that faced south, towards the end of Manhattan. That was when I first saw it!
There was a large, black gaping hole in one of the towers, with black smoke bellowing from it. It was obvious that it had been a large commercial aircraft that had done the damage, not some small puddle jumper.
No work was being done, no sales presentations were being made, everything was at a standstill. We all watched in amazement, trying to figure out what had happened. Then, out of nowhere appeared another airliner, out over the statue of liberty, making a sweeping left turn towards us. We watched in utter disbelief as we saw it hurl into the opposite tower, immediately causing a ball of fire to engulf several floors of the beautiful building.
At that moment we all realized we were under attack! Knowing that our building was near the Empire State Building, many on the staff began to worry that our building might be one of the next targets. For the next hour or so rumors ran rampant as we heard that eleven airliners were in a state of being hijacked, that the Sears Tower in Chicago was being hit, that Washington D.C. was under attack, that the White House had been hit!
Then there were excited screams from those who were still watching at the windows. I rushed back to see what was happening just in time to see the first tower sink to the ground and disappear into a thick grey cloud of rising dust. It was gone! That huge, indestructible tribute to the engineering and construction magnificence of our society….WAS GONE!
At that moment all cell phones ceased to exist. There was no telephone service, we were cut off! I tried repeatedly to call my wife Judy back in Marianna to let her know I was safe and ok. I knew she would be worried and would be frantically trying to reach me.
After what seemed to be only a few minutes another uproar arose from the windows. By the time I reached the window the second tower had unbelievably also disappeared, and another sickening, grey cloud was rising upward. At that time we decided that we should exit the building to increase our safety and to be on the ground level if power failed to the area.
Down at street level the honking, cab filled, bustling streets were filled with an eerie quietness with thousands of people standing in little clusters, talking, speculating, crying, trying to use dead cell phones, or slowly milling around in the streets. Not a cab or moving vehicle could be seen. It was like something out of a space movie.
We found out that all bridges and tunnels had been closed! We were captives on the island!
I heard one man excitedly describing how he had seen the first airplane as it flew from the north, heading south down the island at a very, very low altitude. "I thought it’s wing was going to clip the top of the Empire State Building", he exclaimed.
I talked for a few minutes with a man who was visibly shaken, and who was covered in that same horrible grey dust that we had seen rise from the falling buildings. He had tears rolling down his cheeks as he told me of being just in front of the towers when the first one fell. He said they had been standing in the street looking up at the burning structures and watching as hundreds of rescue workers rushed inside. He related how he had seen a man and woman jump from an upper story window holding hands as they chose a quick death over the certain incineration behind them.
I felt a hot, almost uncontrollable anger rise inside me as I realized that I had just witnessed the deaths of thousands of innocent Americans, killed by some violent, senseless act of terror from some unknown enemy. It seemed beyond comprehension.
Around three o’clock we found out that they were opening the bridges on the north end of Manhattan to outgoing traffic. All tunnels were to remain closed. We made our way back to the garage, got the car to street level, and began the slow, difficult northward travel on the island to the nearest bridge. As we reached the main highway approaching the bridge the incoming lane was a continuous string of fire trucks, ambulances, and assorted emergency vehicles, all rushing to the south end of the island.
Just as the sun set we were finally moving at a good speed to the West, in New Jersey. I will never forget the sight of the two plumes of smoke that rose from the southern tip of the island, flowing out of sight in twin lines for as far as you could see down the Atlantic shoreline to south.
I will never forget that day and the emotions it created within me. I now have a firm resolve to help our nation fight those far away enemies that want to kill us and destroy our society and our way of life. WE ARE AT WAR!
Even though most of us still go to work in a normal manner, and we sit and read the newspaper and watch television, and then climb into our warm, comfortable beds…..WE ARE IN DANGER! And even worse, if we ignore these dangers, and avoid the opportunity to confront them….OUR CHILDREN WILL BE IN EVEN GREATER DANGER WHEN THEY ARE ADULTS!
I firmly supported the "Bush Doctrine" when he stated that any nation that was not helping us defeat these enemies would also be considered an enemy. I only regret that he has not fully held to that concept.
I feel that the worse mistake made in Iraq was not sending in 500,000 troops or, 700,000, or whatever it takes to clean out the cesspool that exists there. We should be absolutely aggressive against any nation that aids and supports those radical Moslems that threaten us. To hesitate or ignore their presence is either foolish or treasonable.
Democrat or Republican, Bush Hater or Bush Supporter, it is absolutely insane to allow politics to cloud our focused attention on the battle that is at hand. If you will pause and remember what they did to us on 9-11, and if you really believe in America and want to preserve this nation for our children…..then support our military effort and you will be "Getting It Right!"