We had just gotten back to Orlando from South Carolina and a big get togother to introduce my new Domincan wife to my family and friends. Needless to say, my simple wife from the campo was intimidated enough by the US as it was having only been in the States for 5 weeks and never having travelled before.
Anyway, as usual I was drinking my coffee and checking the news reports in our highrise office in downtown Orlando when all of a sudden someone said a building had hit one of the World Trade Centers. At this point I'm sure most did not suspect that this was an act of terrorism, in fact a few callous people in the office were actually making snide remarks about about a drunk pilot. That would all change instantly with the crash of the second plane.
At that point the internet was basically down for all the hits on the websites so everybody in the office went downstares to a bar/restaurant and watched the whole thing on big screen TV. I just kept on thinking what type of a person would kill himself in order to kill innocent people - I just couldn't make any sense of it.
To continue we left work around lunch and went home and of course my Dominican wife was worried and scared. My wife's parents in Moca called to make sure that we were ok as being typical Domincans they don't distinguish between NY and the US. I also assured her (and hoped) that there wouldn't be 50,000 to 80,000 deaths as had been reported on the Dominican news. I called my Mom and she told me that her and Dad had just sat down to watch the news reports about the big "accident", the first plane hitting the tower. Peter Jennings was giving the report and then out of the blue comes this other plane and smacks into the other building. It made me sick to my stomach thinking about my Dad having to see that. I, at that point, realized how evil the world can be at times.
My spirit was greatly lifted by the fine work of the civil servants and Guiliani in the following days and the stories of such great sacrifice. Although I'm from the South where we consistently make fun of Northerners, in the following weeks I, as most of America, were true blue "Yankees". It was a bittersweet feeling, the loss and yet the newfound communion I felt with my countrymen. God bless America and NYC.