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Still angry after all these years
By George Starks
AMERICA- It's 18 years after the fact and the anger is still there. The
date is September 11, 2001 and it starts off like any other day. I wake
up at 5 a.m., have my morning coffee and get dressed to meet my day.
At 6:15, I'm in my car driving from Ansonia to get to Whirlpool before
seven. I arrive, clock in and go to the machine shop. At that point,
it's eight hours of cutting gears for stand mixers, as usual, or so I
thought.
It's three hours later and things seem to be changing. I'm not sure
what's going on but I see people leaving the factory floor. I continue
to work but I know something isn't right. A few minutes later, Chuck
comes to my machines and tells me to shut them down.
I ask why.
He responds by saying, "our country is under attack. Go to the
lunchroom." I thought he was crazy. I knew the United States was the
most hated country in the world but I thought, who is crazy enough to
attack us in this day and age?
When I get to the lunchroom, the whole shop is in there, glued to two
big screen televisions. CBS news is on and Dan Rather is doing the
talking. The first tower had already been hit and I got there just in
time to watch the second plane hit that second tower.
My heart sank. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
The Twin Towers were on fire because terrorists had flown civilian
aircraft into them. For the first time since Pearl Harbor, my country
was being attacked by a outside force.
It was heartbreaking.
I was 43 at the time and I had been out of the military for several
years but at that point, I wanted to be back in. Navy or Army, it
really didn't matter. I knew this was war and I wanted to join the
eventual fight.
It was time to take up arms and defend my country.
Eighteen years later, I'm 61 now and I'm still angry. As much as I hate
this day, I will never forget that day. It was horrible then and it's
just as bad now.
I hope as time goes by, the people that had yet to be born are always
aware of the meaning of this day. To the younger generation please
remember one thing,
THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY!
Defend it with every breath you have because that breath might be your last.
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