I Worked For An Airline During 9/11
Posted: Friday, September 11, 2009
by David Pekrul
I wanted desperately to write down what I was feeling (in poem style, as that is the only way I seem to know how to write), but the words escaped me. It was just too big and horrible of an event to wrap my brain around.
I finally wrote that poem, although it was many, many days after the tragedy.
The Day The World Stopped
It was the day we lost our innocence,
When human nature showed its worst,
And its best.
A day of terror,
Remorse,
Fear and anguish.
September 11, 2001,
The day the world stopped.
I sat watching the pictures in disbelief,
Knowing in my mind what was happening,
But in my heart, believing this could never be.
My plan that day was to buy a new computer,
But instead, I sat there watching the pictures,
My insides hollow,
My mind numb with disbelief,
Fear,
A sense of loss,
My innocence gone.
It seemed a sin to go out shopping,
While others were dying,
To be wanting something so material,
While others were losing everything.
So I just sat there,
No longer wanting to watch,
But unable to tear myself away,
Just watching and watching,
As the same images were played,
Over and over,
And over again.
I finally bought my computer that day,
My life would not stop.
I could not allow them to take it away.
My life would continue,
Though it would never be the same again.
The next day I went to work,
Taking the many phone calls
From those trying to leave the stricken city,
Or those trying to get home to families.
Every call was different,
Yet every call was the same.
Everyone was calm,
In an eerie sort of way.
No one wanted to talk about what happened,
I'm mean, what could they say?
Everyone had seen the pictures,
Everyone had felt the loss,
The sorrow,
The pain.
I took over a hundred phone calls,
One after another,
From every part of the planet,
From people just wanting to get home to loved ones,
Even if they already knew they were safe,
Just to hold them,
To tell them they were loved.
There would be no family quarrels today.
That evening I sat in front of the television
And hid myself in a bottle of wine.
Great article. Well done.I guess you have seen panic before. It must have been difficult to act professional when such even happened.
There are certain jobs that deal with panic and dangers and the ones that work with and in them seem to have a calmness in certain reactions. I guess I am saying, I can handle it, I have done it many times before it came to fruition. People as yourself are in certain positions that help and save many. You know how to handle them. These are the "Quiet Heroes" you never hear about. Little did you know, what happened before in threat, had you prepared to handle this. It is like, God prepared you yesterday for today. (Being a Christian, I believe that.)
Another day of infamy - and we'd best not let it grow dim or convince ourselves that it will never happen again - evil and those behind it don't seem to go on vacation or holiday - they just blend in and wait for orders. Tragic. BUT we saw a pulling together and a turning to God like never before - would that we'd remember that more.....Marijo
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and memories David. It was appreciated.
David,Your poem is vivid expression of what I felt on that fatal day. Thank you for sharing.Lawrence
Beautifully expressed and marvelously written, David.
Great poem! This was a day we will never forget. We'll always remember where we were and what we were doing when it happened.
Hi David.I was there, in the same island where it all happened, "...the day we lost our innocence, the day the world stopped..." I could still feel the horror, I could smell the smoke as the wind blew it towards where I was. I could still see it in my dreams.David, thank you for sharing your thoughts and memory of this day.Best to you and yours,Nenita
