EDGEWATER -- "Are you watching TV?" was the first thing out of my husband's mouth in a surprise phone call where he worked in Pennsylvania when we lived up north on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
"No, I just walked back from taking our girls to school," I replied from our home in New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from his workplace.
"Turn on it on," my husband said in an urgent voice. "What channel? "I asked. "Any one! I'll call you back, because others want to use the phone."
There on the screen was a shocking scene of one of the Twin Towers on fire. As news anchors speculated whether or not it was an accident, we saw the other tower burning from another jet and knew it was deliberate; knew it was terrorists!
I heard gasps on TV from the surprise and horror that this could be happening in the United States of America. I couldn't move, I was so scared, mostly for my children, this next generation. I wanted my husband to call back so I could ask him in what kind of a world we were raising our children in. He could not call back, though, because each time he tried he got the recorded message that all circuits were busy.
From New Jersey, I was able call out and when I did, there were a list of names and numnbers from people who wanted to know if their loved ones were alright.
Later we learned that there was one young man who grew up in my neighborhood who died in the one of the towers: Billy Bethke, who was at work there. That evening I heard that the hospitals were filled with people trying to donate blood and it gave me a different perspective of the world.
The terrorists have it wrong if they think westerners are so self-centered that we would further hurt each other. Instead, we gave blood and lives to help strangers in need. This is a much better society than they believed it was.
Then-New York Mayor Rudy Giulianni went to hundreds of funerals and services of fallen heroes who worked as emergency personnel in the City of New York. President Bush had extremely high approval ratings after his speech about the war on terror, reminding us that it would take many years and have many fronts.
As I flew up to Washington D.C. last month, I came across the safety measures put into place to screen travelers at airports. I took a photo of the pentagon and a few other landmarks as I passed them on the road or from inside the plane.
I am happy to be a part of this great country and took pictures of familiar sights showing national monuments and roads, and buildings that our forefathers and ancestors have built to show pride in America, and of what our society is willing to do to take care of others. Here are those photos:
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Photos for Headline Surfer by Jeanette DiCara / Top: Washington Monument as seen from Dulles airport of the Pentagon from the road; middle: aerial view of the Pentagon; bottom: Much higher aerial view of the nation's capital.
Headline Surfer is Florida's first 24/7 Internet newspaper launched April 7, 2008, initially as NSBNews.net. It is based in New Smyrna Beach, covering Volusia County and throughout the Orlando Metropolitan Area via HeadlineSurfer.com, NSBNews.net and VolusiaNews.net. "Headline Surfer" is a registered trademark owned by NSB News LLC, for editorial, marketing and advertising purposes. All rights reserved.
