One Mans Opinion - 9/10/2011
By Dewaine Shoulders

They say you never forget where you were when something big, or terrible happens. There are many who are still among us that remember where they were when Pearl Harbor was attacked. There are many who remember where they were when JFK was assassinated in Dallas. And there are those of us that remember where we were when man first landed on the moon.

And like those people, I'll never forget where I was and what I was doing on that September morning in 2001.

Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 - 7:45 a.m. (Central Time Zone)

The wife and I had recently moved from Dallas to Texarkana to care for her mother, who had just had quadruple bypass surgery and a leg amputated due to diabetes. I had found a part-time job, but was looking for something better.  We both were looking for full-time work, and the going was rough at that time in Texarkana.

That particular morning, I got up early and went to apply at one of the two hospitals in Texarkana. I garnered an application and took it out to my Ford Explorer to fill it out. It was a beautiful morning, and damned if I wanted to sit inside a musty old hospital, filling out an application. So, while filling out the application, I turned on the radio, listening to a Shreveport, Louisiana radio station that carried The Bob and Tom Show, which originates from Indianapolis. I think I was a tad bit homesick for Kentucky that morning. Back home, I used to listen to Bob and Tom daily.

Now, if you've have ever listened to The Bob and Tom Show, you know these people rarely get serious. Kristie Lee, the woman that does the news on the show, interrupted the shows humor with a serious story. A plane had just crashed into one of the World Trade Center towers. Instantly, my attention was taken from the application and was placed on the radio. I remember staring at the radio, asking myself, "How could that be? How could some pilot not see two towers that reach so far up in the New York skyline?" It was then nearly ten minutes after the first plane had hit the first tower when the news was announced.

Within minutes, still filling out the application, Kristie Lee interrupted the show again, reporting that a second plane had hit the other tower. It was 8:05 in the morning (local time).

At that exact moment, I knew that this was no accident. We had just been attacked! I tossed the employment application in the back seat of my Explorer and took off out of the parking lot and made a beeline home. Ten minutes later, I was screeching the tires as I turned onto the driveway.

My wife had decided to sleep-in that morning before she was to go out looking for a job. So, she was just getting out of bed when I came rushing into the house we were renting at the time, immediately turning on Fox News. There, I witnessed the replay of the first plane crashing into the first tower.

My wife asked what was going on, and I tried to relay what precious little I knew from listening to the radio on the way home. She joined me on the couch, where we witnessed the buildings collapse, one--- and soon after--- the other. The carnage was awful. Then we learned about Flight 93 crashing in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and another plane slamming into the Pentagon in DC.

I felt my gut tighten. War had been declared on America!

For the next three days, we slept little; constantly watching what was going on in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC.

At this point, we knew that Flight 93 had gone down in Pennsylvania, as passengers had overtaken the hijackers, in a plane that was presumably destined to crash into the White House.

As for the plane that hit the side of the Pentagon, my wife's nephew was among the first responders that were digging out burnt corpses and verified the horrific scene weeks later (after being debriefed) to us. And yes, it was a plane that hit the Pentagon (not some missile as conspiracy theorists have claimed). He saw the parts of the plane and the pieces of the engines.

Needless to say, around 3,000 souls were lost that fateful day. As December 7th, 1941 had been a day that would live in infamy, so would September 11th, 2001.

We watched the TV for three days straight, nodding off occasionally on the couch, but unable to peel ourselves away from the TV for longer that quick bathroom breaks and grabbing something to eat in front of the TV.

After three days of constant replaying of the horrific scenes of death and devastation, I finally turned the TV off. I told my wife that we would be at war soon, and that life was about to get interesting.

I was then reminded of the old Chinese proverb: "May you live in interesting times."

And life in America has become interesting indeed! And a lot has changed in America since 9/11/200... A day that will live in infamy.

Ten years after, I'm divorced, having moved back to Kentucky, and still in shock that someone dared do this to America. I have never hated people so much in my life like I have those that flew those planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and almost into The White House. I bless those brave souls that stopped the hijackers and crashed the plane in Shanksville, PA. They were truly heroes all!

I also have no respect for anyone that tries to condone the acts of a bunch of religious kooks. Anyone that dares claim that these idiots were martyrs to some lunatic cause are foolish. They were murderers!

And I'm aware that not all Muslims are guilty of the 9/11 attacks, but to any Muslim that condones what happened, or can justify it because of their religion, I can't even have pity for them, as they will burn in Hell, along with those mass-murdering hijackers.

To the politicians that now try to sugarcoat the attacks and politicize it, you will burn in Hell for forgetting the true nature of Radical Islam, and forgetting the faces and names of those that died at the hands of the hijackers.

And to the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, who won't allow the Police, Firefighters or prayer to be involved in the 10th anniversary, you will burn in Hell as one of the people who has forgotten the true meaning of 9/11. It was an attack on our way of life. It was an attack on America, and as an American, you should know that those brave firefighters and first responders gave their lives to protect those trapped inside those buildings. To not allow them a place at the anniversary event is a slap in the face of those brave men and women in the NYFD!

Bloomberg is a man who won't allow prayer at the event, but is all for building a mosque near Ground Zero! He may be a billionaire, but the man had no sense! To me, he's just one more loonfish swimming in the Sea of Stupidity!

From New York, to Shanksville, PA, to Washington DC, those that died on September 11th, 2001 should never be forgotten. They were innocent people, living their lives when a group of Radical Islamic loonfish decided to make a statement to America.

Well, I'm going to make a statement to the current and would-be terrorists that would try to do harm to America--- be they foreign-born or homegrown--- The religion you claim to follow is a cult. If killing innocent people is a part of your religious beliefs, then your religion was spawned from Satan himself.

Anyone who kills in the name of God or any god will burn in Hell; not collect 72 virgins in paradise. Only fools believe in that!

As an American, I will never forget what happened to my country on 9/11/2001. And I will never forgive those bastards that tried to destroy America in the name of their minor god!

NEVER FORGET! AMEN!

But that's just my opinion, I could be right!