Laying out on your couch because youve become a disabled individual due to back problems causes you to watch a lot of Netflix. Watched a lot of documentaries today, and just watched one on 9/11. Ill never forget that morning. I was 23, young, carefree, privilegely opinionated aboutg the world (and I was always right so I thought), invincible, popular as all get out ( ;) ), a great dancer, always out to bar close (and the subsequent after bar), and didnt have much regard or concern on foreign affairs. On 9/11/01 I worked at MasterLock, and since I lived in the ghetto next to its home office I usually didnt have to wake up early since work was a 5 minute drive away. Normally Id wake up, roll out of bed, roll into an outfit I had no time to put away from a day before (when I was hastily getting into my hit the town outfit), and roll on into work. This day was no different. Currently I do old man things like listen to NPR on my drive into work. I meeeean, I NEED to know if traffic is bad. But back then I was usually jamming to some mix cd I burned with Al Oberheu from downloading illegal music off Napster the night before. Not that I remember us doing that the night before, but it was a huge possibility. So when I walked into work late that day... which I normally did, the silence was deafening and I felt this tension in the air. Looking back I dont know where I got that from considering I was only up for 15 minutes. I just thought it was due to my hangover. Then I got to my desk. I had a joint Cubie with this born again Christian Angela. We were the anti-thesis to each other. Devout Christian, and I, the non-believing sinner Harper. We worked great together. Since MasterLock jumped on the offshore bandwagon, no one really worked in the giant factory complex but a few admin areas left in murica because everyone making the locks was in Mexico. So when I got to my desk, that was when I could finally hear the silence. When I got there Angela and everyone in our pocket of the factory was listening to news radio. That day I think all radio channels were news radio channels. So I asked her, whats all the drama about?! Didnt you hear Eric, Angela asked, a plane just crashed into the World Trade Center! Before I post my reply I must preface this with another short story. I visited the observation deck of the towers once on a high school choir field trip. Ive never felt such sadness and apprehension about being somewhere in my life. I refused to get on the elevator and go with everyone because I was so uneasy, but thats really not allowed when your a minor on a high school field trip in another town. So I sucked it up and went up. Perhaps it was the memorial from the prior attack that set the mood, but it wasnt until we got to the top that it really hit me. I turned to someone, most likely my friend Alyson Meecham and said, one day an airplane is going to crash into this building. This building is too tall, its an inevitability. Mark my words. So when Angela told me a jet crashed into the building I said, I always said a plane would crash into those towers from the day I stepped foot in them. No building should ever be made that tall! Not even seconds after I said that the news announcer emotionally announced the second tower had been hit. I never saw that coming, and after that the news only got worse. My life changed that day. I know everyones did, but this is my story about how mine changed. I was suddenly connected to foreign affairs. I became very spiritual since I didnt want to believe all the victims lost their lives and that was it. I started realizing how lucky we all were to enjoy lives of privilege, peace, and humanity because it can be taken from us so quickly. My world stopped, and was never the same since. One of the moments I will never forget, and no one should, is when we all (on a date I cant recall offhand) went to our porches around 8 or 9 pm some scheduled night and lit candles for all those lost. It was a very defining moment for me because it was at the home of the hottest club in town we all lived at. And She was not a very personable person at that time. Having the hottest night club in town can do that to someone My best friends Shalimar (who lived next to Her), and Amber (who lived under her), were there, and we sat in front of Ambers apartment entrance with the club owner and lit our candles. It was an important moment we spent together with countless others throughout the world, and the event really impacted me in ways I forget sometimes. Because we all seem to forget. It was the first time I truly felt I was a part of something bigger. And to see how vested this club owner from the world of excess was in the candle vigil, made me realize we are all the same deep inside. This story was inspired from a Smithsonian documentary telling the stories of those who donated something of theirs that was involved that day. Whether it be a brief case, a phone they used to call a loved one from a doomed plane, a piece of the airplane, or to part of the building. What that museum wants to do is make sure society doesnt forget. Good thing too because I almost did. That candle vigil was almost a faded memory for me until I recounted the tale today. They dont want these stories lost or forgotten either. So this is my story. I hope its not forgotten. Whats yours? #neverforget
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 02:46:59 +0000