sábado, 11 de setembro de 2010

My memory of 11 SEP 01

 by Stephen Boyd
 
 
I remember being assigned to work in downtown Chicago that morning. We were all new Police Officers. After our initial training of 3 months on the street, we were assigned to direct traffic downtown until we completed our one year probation. Chicago has many tourists in the summer time, and Mayor Daley wanted his new Police Officers to be visible downtown. That morning I was assigned to a crosswalk between Soldier field and the field museum. I was supposed to stop traffic to help visitors cross the street. I noticed that many people were talking on there cell phones as they passed me, and one woman was crying. I secretly called my brother at home to see if there was something unusual happening. He told me that a plane had hit one of the towers in New York. He was also recording it on the VCR. As we were talking he said, "Hey there is a plane coming in the picture. Oh my God! Another plane hit the other tower. This is deliberate, we are going to war!" I was filled with anger and shock. I had just seen a TV special about Bin Laden, so I thought that it was him. It was confirmed later that he was responsible. Our Police group was ordered to go to one of the piers by the lake. We were told that Chicago was a target and to be on the lookout for suspicious trucks and boats that might approach the pier and to shoot them if we felt in danger. Shoot? Shoot at people? I didn't know what to think. I noticed that the government canceled all flights and for three days there were no planes in the sky. Occasionally a military plane would fly, and when anyone heard a plane, people would stop in there tracks and stare into the sky searching for it. Cars would pull over also. I will never forget that horrible time.  
 

Stephen         
 


 
* Stephen is my beloved friend from Chicago, Illinois, USA.          

Jô Piantavinha

4 comentários:

  1. Dear Stephen,
    your words about 09/11 touch me so deeply... I remember that day, here in Brazil, when all the people, including me, stopped their lives to watch on TV the planes flew towards WTC and hit the towers. It was so unreal... It was unbelievable! The world got shocked... I can imagine how American people felt then.
    Now, I think we have to work for the peace!

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  2. I remember very well ... it was terrible! The WTC was a symbol of North American that was "easily" destroyed, but I see the search of the Americans to rescue their national affirmation by the symbology. A concrete proof this I see the song "Empire State of Mind" Jay-Z | Alicia Keys. So this is my contribution to the blog. The representation of the quest for national revaluation North America, which is quite expressive.

    I'm sorry, if the idea is unreal and if I could not express myself correctly ,but... =)

    I'll try another time to post the video. I can't do now, because I need to run for my job.

    Official video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UjsXo9l6I8

    Kisses for all

    Tarcila

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