Our 9/11 The attacks happened to us all.

In the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on our country, the families of those who perished on that day became forever linked through our shared anguish and grief. But "the 9/11 families" are not a monolithic group that speaks in one voice, and nothing has made that more clear than the controversy over the Bush campaign ads.

I am proud of President Bush after 9/11 and would like to share a letter I wrote to my family shortly after that day.

Thought I would share something personal with you that went out to my family and friends dated Sept 14, 2001.
Just recently My Brother-in-law Detective Robert Yaeger appeared in a film with his Emergency Service Unit #2 NYPD that won Academy Award for documentary short called Twin Towers. Today will always be a day that I can never forget.

It was hard for me to imagine that just 3 weeks after 9/11 that these same people that I write about in my letter attended my wedding despite the tragedy that faced our country. I thought about changing the wedding date but my brother Alan said to me "Don't change the date because after going to so many funerals we need a reason to celebrate. I had asked my brother-n-law to wear his dress blues at my wedding Oct 6th 2001 in honor of the men he lost.

Thursday 10/14/01

I have been making some observations of the events that have taken place in our country. This is the second tragedy I have witnessed while sitting in front of a TV as a mental health worker amongst people that have already been dealing with trauma in their lives. The first time being the Challenger space shuttle in front of a group of emotionally disturbed children and now this tragedy in front of adult psychiatric clients. My ability to focus at my job despite being worried about my brother-in-law Rob and brother Alan along with thousands of other New Yorkers was being put to the test.
I tried calling Mom Tuesday morning and she said she was alone at home. I asked if she had heard from anyone and she told me Alan had called from his cell phone and stated " I think the whole entire city of NY is under attack and right now there is complete mayhem." She then went on to state that she was unable to contact my sister Michelle to find out the condition of Rob. I later learned he was safe and just came off a night shift working for NYPD. Rob was at a training to extricate warrants for his ESU squad. I went on working but then started looking around finding my coworkers tearful and busy on the phone at Anna Jaques Hospital. I had not realized being from Massachusetts that so many of my colleagues also had relatives working in near the Battery of Manhattan.
We then received a call from our Emergency Room to please come downstairs and talk to a women that had a confirmed death of a loved one on flight #11 that struck the World Trade Towers. We tried to comfort her while the TV in the lobby continued to show the tragedy unfolding. She swore the terrorists up and down as a large crowd was gathering around the TV to make sense of what was going on. We to could only watch in horror as we waited to hear from our own families in NY.
I am proud of New Yorkers, I am proud of my brother Alan who volunteered to help set up a triage center in the battery of Manhattan, I am proud of my brother-in-law Rob who puts his life on the line every day as an Emergency Service Worker, Truck #2 for NYPD. I am proud of my brother Eddie that serves our country as a Commander in the Navy and defends us as a beacon of strength from this mad man Usama Bin Laden. I am proud of my Canadian relatives and what Newfoundlanders did to help Americans in transit whose flights were grounded. They responded to us with great compassion at a time of need.
The City of New York, the Pentagon along with our whole nation are now in a state of mourning. We are dealing with a lot of folks that have remains are still missing and my heart goes out to their families. I am astonished at the humanity involved in resolving the pain and grief that exists but when you ask someone on the streets near this tragedy in the Battery of Manhattan they State "What would you expect from a New Yorker." You Folks can't see me now but I have tears coming out of my eyes as I am writing. Though my emotions have been struck my vision and thoughts of what needs to happen has not. This feeling of patriotism is spreading quickly across this nation.
I heard reports in the news about people being trapped in the World Trade Towers calling their family to tell them they love them just before they perished. I have heard reports that people with cell phones on the hijacked plane called their relatives to do the same. I heard about one man that called his wife on the plane that was downed in Pennsylvania stating that he along with two other men planned to take on the hijackers after hearing the fate of the planes that already crashed into the Word Trade Towers and Pentagon. The grounding of this plane saved innocent lives.
These people were sending us a message to us that they wanted their spirit to continue in our lives. I would like to leave you with some words I wrote in the past that I feel strongly about. I am sorry if my spelling or grammar is off but I am happy to share my thoughts.

Soul
God always allows life to take us to the brink before we can learn. We see many things that happen in our lives to believe in a higher being greater than ourselves. I am finding it extremely difficult to understand that God doesn't exist. We have witnessed people heal physically and mentally. We have watched disaster strike when people have united to support each other in the time of crisis. I ask myself? How can people celebrate the birth of a new life as well as they can accept the death of a love one? We make confessions to cleanse ourselves from the wrongs we do so that way we may move on with our lives. It's the soul of other people we reach out for and try to find within ourselves. The spirit of those that leave us should remain as strength to guide us though life. People that have faith in life succeed no matter what the circumstance may be and will prevail.

My sister who is normally not a spiritual person after 9/11 sent me a quote from the Bible 1025 book of proverbs "When the whirlwind passes the wicked shall be no more and the righteous shall have an everlasting foundation." This quote my brother-in law hung up at his precinct in Harlem on their bulletin board.
There were three men that covered for Rob and his partner's shift while they went to their training on 9/11. All three men were killed SGT. Curtin, DET. Vigiano and P.O.D'allara

Chris Donohoe
East Hampstead NH

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.