Attack on America: Personal Experiences

This has been one of those days, where you are wanting to open your eyes and wake from a horrific dream. Unfortunately today, we cannot do that. What we saw and experienced was real today. The “Attack on America” has been compared to the destruction of Pearl Harbor, back in 1941. This has truly been a sad day in history. Yet, like the great nation the United States is, we will persevere and work to rebuild on of the greatest cities, in New York.

While I was not in New York City, I was seemingly in the middle of some of the incidents today at work in Los Angeles. I work for United Airlines, and we got word that there was a possibility some of our aircraft were targeted. Unfortunately, we know the results of both Flight 93 and Flight 175 [which was bound for LAX]. While I cannot share details or go in depth as to what we the main department for United at Los Angeles did, I was feeling the tension and pain as we watched in horror that airplane make that hard bank to the left and slam into the World Trade Center. Horrifying!

There was also a bit of personal involvement, as my sister, who is a flight attendant for the same airline was on her way back from Frankfurt, Germany to Washington-Dulles. So I was watching the status of that flight very closely. I was unable to call my parents twice, because I was just too choked up and could not get any words out when I thought, “What if…” It was about 6 hours later that she finally returned to Frankfurt. From a conversation with my mom, she said, my sister was quite shaken and distraught. Rightfully so.

I think it will be a few days before I really get back into the swing of things and give you what you came here for. I know this is not a forum for personal experiences, but with all the happenings today and yet to come, I felt I could give you a little insight into my personal life and what I will be going through in the days to come.

Thanks for all the support to date. You can always count on the Quakers to pass on their wishes and prayers. Thanks for the understanding.