The day of September 11th 2001 will remain as a dark day in history. All people
know about this day and what happened at this date. On this day, the terrorism
reached its highest point since the beginnings until now and maybe similar events
will be greater. (God forbid!). All the other terrorist events didn’t
create such a wave of fear, revolt and hate. However, sometimes we ask ourselves
if a human being is capable of doing such a thing. Faith was, it is, and it
will be a goal for which people will kill each other, but one thing is to sacrifice
your life in an honourable way, and another thing is to kill yourself pulling
after you 4000 innocent lives:”Great things demand great sacrifices”. c3e20en
Objectively, I remember perfectly what I saw on TV that morning. I turned on
the TV and I saw images with one of the two towers burning intensely. That image
was unimaginable. Suddenly, two things came to my mind: 1.”Could this
be the beginning of the end?” And 2.”Could this be the start of
The World War Three?” I’m quite sure that my thought was a general
one and every man on the Earth asked himself the same questions. And indeed,
on that day World War Three started, but a war different from what we know.
This is a silent war, in which you fight against an invisible enemy, almost
undetectable, who is hiding very well. That day The World War Three started,
a war against terrorism and tyranny.
Anyway, something final happened on the clear sky of the Occident. Something
important and, maybe, not very clear, but perceived by the global community
as a fact meant to mark an irrevocable moment, the start of an epoch-making
change. For all of us, the image of the two Boeings crashing the Twin Towers
was enough to understand that the Apocalypse, as it was imagined, could finally
erupt on the face of the Earth.
This is not about the Christian world on one side and the Islamic world on the
other side; it is about the World of richness, individualism, progress, and
efficiency on a side and The World of poverty, misery and blind faith on the
other side. These two different worlds had to meet, finally to confront themselves
and destroy each other as sandcastles. It is important to see that they are
based on different conceptions concerning life: in the previous century it seemed
that the western world broke any connections with the spirit and its purposes
were only material…In the so-called “the third world”, the
man is still in contact with his spiritual roots and traditions, and in the
confrontation with the Occident, it seems that this world is losing itself in
the tornado of despair.
New York - time: 8:46 a.m.- hell is unleashed. The second hijacked plane, with
all the people on board, crashes violently into the north tower of World Trade
Centre. The eyewitnesses have a great shock and despair becomes general. People
caught at the superior floors understand that these are the last moments of
their life. The help asked, doesn’t come: white clothes are waved, screams
are heard, objects thrown -; but vainly, for them there is nothing to be
done. Desperate, some of them throw themselves out of the window, the impact
being fatal. These people accepted their fate and decided to finish faster with
this torture. Others died waiting for something…something that was only
an illusion…the illusion of a second chance. But God takes care of His
people and some of them, managed to find some stairs that were not badly damaged
by the impact. We can say, without any doubt that these people were born for
the second time…
This is just the beginning because after a few minutes the second hijacked plane
reached its target: the south tower of the World Trade Centre. After only 17
minutes from the first attack, the second hijacked plane crashes into the south
tower of the World Trade Centre, in front of the terrified eyewitnesses and
TV cameras. In the first place, people thought that this was the tank water
plane meant to stop the fire in the building. However, it did not resemble at
all a tank water plane, rather a big flying grave. Now, the Twin Towers became
two huge torches covering a great part of New York’s sky with their infernal
smoke. The TV cameras and civilians took pictures of a “landscape”
that they surely would not see again.
U.S Federal Aviation Administration shut down all New York area airports. At
9:21, all bridges and tunnels leading into New York are closed.
At 40 minutes from the second attack and an hour later from the first, the last
hijacked plane, with people on board, crashes over a section of the Pentagon.
The president, George W. Bush with the entire White House staff are immediately
evacuated and put in the presidential airplane, Air Force One, where he is safer
than staying on ground. All flights, commercial, tourist, passenger, are cancelled
and the US’s sky is supervised by airplanes with the order of knocking
down any kind of flying object. Everything takes place as a chain reaction,
but this chain has unimaginable consequences that will change the course of
history.
At only one hour from the attack, the south tower falls with big noise. The
south tower is the last crashed and the first falling down. After five minutes,
at 10:10, the third hijacked airplane, crashes in a wooded area in Pennsylvania,
the only victims being the passengers and the hijackers. It seems that the passengers
fought and preferred to sacrifice their life instead of fulfilling the diabolical
plan. The destination of this plane is unknown. Hundreds of firefighters, police
officers and military units are brought to pull out the survivors from the demolished
south tower and from the north tower that has not collapsed yet.
Half-hour later after the attack, all the Wall Street stock exchange is in shock.
The American $ is loosing important percentages, its value being 30% smaller.
The world economy is very close to an abyss.
President George W. Bush called these events “acts of war” and he
transmitted to the Army and secret services to “find those responsible
and bring them to justice”. He asked the US Congress to vote 20 billion
$ for reconstruction, reorganization and the affected by the tragedy.
At short time after the south tower crashed, the north tower crashed too. The
falling of these giants was symbolic for the falling of America and not only…these
giants seemed invincible and untouchable but they were crushed like some flies.
A perfect system has proved to be imperfect. The heart of America was deeply
bleeding and it is unknown if this wound is ever going to heal or at least to
become a big scar.
Besides the Twin Towers, because of the shock and dust, another seven buildings
collapsed and many more have been damaged badly. The material losses were estimated
to billions of $, the human losses-around 2000.
It is certain that September 11th 2001 will remain a memorable day in humankind’s
history. Unimaginable forces that we are not able to understand were unleashed
on that day, not only a hand of Afghan rebels.
The fast investigations made by the secret services gave only a name…Secretary
of State Collin Powel confirmed the first results of the investigations:”Osama
bin Laden is the prime suspect”. The news spread as a flash of lighting
over the world and for a long time the name of this man was on all people’s
lips. Bin Laden denied any implication, but when he heard the news that the
Twin Towers had fallen, he knelt with enthusiasm saying: “Allah be glorified”.
After a few days, there were no doubts: the real author of the attack is Osama
bin Laden.
The truth is that Bin Laden, if it is he who ordered the attacks, obtained the
effect he wanted to obtain. The Twin Towers, the Pentagon, besides The White
House, represented a symbol for America, a symbol that has been destroyed….
Slowly, the chaos makes room for order and with very hard work and in time,
people go again to their normal life. About 9 months were necessary finish cleaning
the spot and then the reconstruction started.
A couple of weeks after the attack the authorities started to collect money
for the affected ones. Many commercials were broadcast on TV to raise funds.
In Washington, all stars met and gave concerts in order to collect money to
help those who lost members of their family or their home during the attack.
Thousands of candles and flowers were put on the streets and in churches in
the memory of those who lost their lives in the attack. After a couple of months,
a monument was built for the ones who sacrificed their life and the airplane crushed in Pennsylvania…these were declared national heroes.
Another monument was built in New York for the ones who died in the Twin Towers
attack.
President Bush started the war against terrorism and named it “the first
war of the 21st century”; “America will lead the world to victory”.
As a conclusion I want to mention that this is the most dramatic terrorist attack
that has ever happened…around 4000 people died including those from the
hijacked planes… material losses of billions, human losses: priceless…
September 11th 2001 will be seen in the future as a day of radical changes,
a day of a NEW BEGINNING…