9-11-2006

[Mc2guy]

I was flying that morning. I took off out of Dulles, two gates down from Flight 77 that hit the Pentagon, about 35 minutes before their flight took off. I'm sure I stood in line at Starbucks with people that died on that plane.

New's had just started to break when I landed in Atlanta for my transfer. Of course they shut down the airspace, so all flights were delayed, but they had also shut off the airport terminal TV's to keep people from panicking. The TV's came back on just as the first tower went down, and from there it was pure pandemonium as people bum rushed the airport exits. I was stranded for three days in Atlanta with no where to go and no way to get there, but it was okay because an amazing family of complete strangers opened their home to me. Without hesitation or reservation they invited me in, fed me, and treated me like some long lost cousin that had just been found.

I have a different view of the world today than before 9/11, but not for the worse. Today I have more faith in humanity now than I ever did before. The Secunda family of Atlanta, GA showed me more about the goodness of people than a hundred 9/11 attacks could ever erase.