Today I reflect on 9/11/2001; I can't get it out of my head, and that's probably a good thing. The day it happened I was sitting at my desk working, and my co-worker Valerie came in telling me to check the news. I think that day showed all Americans that we could pull together in adverse situations.
I was fortunate to have gotten to go to New York City last year; it was amazing to see all the sights, but the most rewarding moments in NY for me was listening to the stories of the crash and seeing the memorial at the World Trade Center location.
One of the stories that I heard was from a tour guide that Robin and I had while taking a night tour through Brooklyn. The tour guide had been a taxi driver when the attack happened, and his fare was a couple of business men going to the World Trade Center at the exact moment that one of the planes crashed into the building. He wasn't able to get his customers to their destination; after hours and hours of traffic and smoke, he was finally able to get them back to their hotel. He said he would have taken them home with him in the event they were not able to get to their hotel.
The thing that mesmerized me and that I can't fathom was he told us the one memory that sticks out in his mind the most was that there were millions of shoes on the Brooklyn Bridge. The woman and I assume maybe some men would take off their shoes and drop them on the Brooklyn Bridge to run fast enough to get away from the collapsing building. I bet since this happened in NY city that there were some expensive shoes.
Our tour guide gave up driving a cab after 9/11; he realized how close he came to dying, and he just wanted to live his life a little easier. He still thinks about that day often, and I'm so happy he told us his story!
"God Bless America"
