| Banks County Opinions... |
September 19, 2001 |
| Column By Angela Gary The Banks County News September 19, 2001  Won't let terrorists take away my freedomI remember the elevator ride. I guess I always will remember it now. It took quite a while to get to the 107th floor. My stomach was a little queasy as the elevator climbed higher and higher. When we finally reached the top, my friend and I hurried into the elegant restaurant where we were given a seat alongside the tall glass walls. Looking straight down, we had an awesome view of the city. I snapped several photographs of the skyscrapers around us. It almost didn't seem real to be so high up looking down on the city through a thin glass wall. The view and elegant surroundings made the visit worthwhile before the food even arrived. And then when the good started coming, we couldn't stop praising it. One scrumptious course after another filled the table. We couldn't keep up. Each dish was better than the one before it. The waiters and staff were so friendly and pleasant. It was only a few short months ago that I sat in the Windows On The World restaurant high atop the World Trade Center in New York City. I was in a bit of a daze during the meal. The incredible height and view left me feeling just a little dizzy. I was in another kind of daze last week when I heard of the terrorist attack against our country. It was another routine Tuesday and I was writing stories about the meeting I had attended the night before when I heard the news. Another editor, Zach Mitcham, stuck his head in my door and said a plane had just hit the World Trade Center. I was too shocked to say much back. Other co-workers soon got calls from family members sharing the shocking news. It was hard to concentrate on routine news events about Jackson and Banks counties when the radio announcements continued about the unreal horror going on in a place I had been to only a few months ago. Then we learned it was a commercial flight that hit the World Trade Center. It was only a week earlier that I had sat in Hartsfield International Airport to catch a plane to Nashville, Tenn. Other news trickled in....The Pentagon was hit...The planes had come from the Boston airport. All were places I had been to before, which just added to the horror. My mind was filled with "what ifs..." It was just too much horror to comprehend. I'm still in a state of shock and confusion and great sorrow about it all. It wasn't long before my mother called. I'm planning a return trip to New York City later this year and she was concerned about this. Another friend called to make sure I was OK and this wasn't the week I was going to New York. Another friend dropped by the office to check on me. Before long, the phone rang and I heard my sister greet me with: "You're not going to New York City in October." It certainly does make you think about travel in the future. But I love to travel and I can't let this stop me from something that is so much a part of my life. I will not let the terrorists who attack the very freedom this country celebrates take away my freedom. I will not change my lifestyle. That would be wrong. That would be a victory, although a small one, for all that the terrorists are attacking us for. I'll continue to travel, but I'll probably be a lot more nervous when I'm doing it. I remember a few years ago when Centennial Park in Atlanta was hit with a bomb. Only a few days after this attack, I headed to Atlanta as I had planned to visit the park. I didn't change my plans then because of someone else's action and I don't want to start now. Angela Gary is associate editor of The Jackson Herald and editor of The Banks County News. |
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