| I was close enough in proximity to the Pentagon when it got hit that I felt the ground shake. I will never forget the fear I felt that day, being IN Washington DC, miles away from my family, not knowing if I was going to be too close to the next one, that fortunately never came.
I was in the office that day, (the South Building of USDA) watching footage of the towers online, feeling the ground shake and thinking, what the heck was that!? When we were told that the Pentagon got hit, I didn't ask to leave, I didn't say a word - I just grabbed my stuff and walked out the door.
I don't think I have ever felt fear quite like that in my life - the terrorists succeeded that day with me.
I guess I can't be too surprised that so many have gone on with their lives and don't think about it much. In talking to my sister, who lives in central Nebraska, being so many miles away, only seeing the footage on TV, in some ways it's like watching a movie. She didn't feel the ground shake, didn't experience the panic of an entire city, and never saw the gaping hole and scorched concrete of the Pentagon, driving past on 395.
I say to show the footage. It happened and irreversibly changed our lives, and we shouldn't try to pretend that it didn't. If we don't show the footage, it makes it far too easy for people like my sister, who may have been over a thousand miles from those terrible scenes, to forget about them.
__________________ Patrick Gleason
email me at: trickg1@hotmail.com
"What we do in life echoes in eternity"
"At my signal, unleash hell."
- Maximus Decimus Meridius |