9/11 – NEVER FORGET: JOSH (THOMAS1 BELLIC) REPORTING

It was a Tuesday morning, and it started pretty much like any other Tuesday morning.  I was in college, heading across campus heading for my 9:00 AM class.  As I passed the student center, a girl came running past me, saying something about an airplane that flew into a building in New York.  I went inside...and sat, transfixed as the horror unfolded before me.  My Nation was under attack.  Later that afternoon as I drove home…dumbstruck by what I had witnessed…and trying to prep myself for my 3-year old son’s birthday party that evening.  The contrast couldn’t have been more striking. Celebrating his young life, on a day of so much death.

September 11, 2001 started like a “normal” day for most people, little knowing that in the days, months, and years following, we would all be operating under a “New Normal”.  Walk with me as we examine the impact of that fateful day on a few of today’s SL Residents

Lanai Jerrico is the Owner and Editor in Chief of SL Enquirer

Josh Bellic (JB):  Tell me Lanai.  Do you recall what you were doing that fateful day?

Lanai:  Certainly I do, Josh. I remember I was getting my daughter ready for afternoon kindergarten. I was watching television when the breaking news came on that an airplane had slammed into the World Trade Center.  I then watched, horrified, as the second plane hit, covered on live TV. Then I saw the towers fall. It was awful. I immediately thought of my cousin who worked in Tower 2.  I later learned that he was off that day.

I next asked Miakoda Tala (sackawho) (MT) about that day.  Mia was employed by a privakevate business jet company in Little Rock, Arkansas.

JB:  So, Mia.  Do you remember where you were on 9/11/2001?  What were you doing?  And how did that affect you?

Mia:  Of course I do, Josh.  I was working at Dassault Falcon Jet, so since we are in the aircraft industry, watching the plane hit the tower was devastating.  We had a TV brought into our office and we couldn't keep our eyes off it all day and we just sat there and cried.  It was one of the saddest days in history and it changed the world.  Not knowing why it happened was one of the hardest things to deal with. Who would do such a thing, killing innocent people? That day started the War on Terror. Bin Laden became the subject of a decade-long international manhunt.  It was a commercial aircraft and we are business jets but in the long run, it did affect the aircraft industry.  It was a day I will never forget.

Finally, I chatted with Paul Woodrunner, the creator and curator of the September 11th Memorial in SecondLife.  

JB:  Hey there Paul.  Do you remember where you were at 8:46 AM EST when the first plane struck the North Tower of the WTC on 9-11-2001?

Paul:  I was getting ready for work in New Orleans, and I saw the news,  When I arrived at work someone put the tv on and there in front of us the second plane hit, and we knew at that point in time the world changed.  It was terrible. The ppl in the towers and the planes were all innocent. Many were trying to help. That is what Americans do.  That is what Humans do --- they help.  This is what we are on this earth to do - Help people. The world changed on 9/11 and forever we will remember. Many, many people who perished were heroes, including the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who I consider the first combatants in the War on Terror. They had the info and they had the time and like Americans, they took a Vote and took action. I say their phone calls home to loved ones and folks that just picked up the phone changed history.  Their voices rang out and have not stopped in 19 years and they forced us to wake up and see the world differently. These people stood up and fought. They are the First Patriots of the new America. Their actions changed the course of America and the World and their voices have been heard. We have cried for all the victims of 9/11 but for the passengers and crew of flight 93... It is time now to celebrate their actions and make a great joyous noise…In New Orleans, we would. On Nov 3rd everyone should remember their voices and do what they did:  VOTE.

So there you have it, Folks.  Be sure and check out the 9-11 Memorial.  Tonight, beginning at 6:00 PM SLT, catch the 9-11 Memorial show at the Bob Hope Theater.  And never forget.  Never Never forget! Speak of this day to your children, and to your children’s children.

Just Do it.  Aloha

JB

SURL:  http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Copperhead%20Road/53/95/1515