Almost a decade ago, our lives were upset by the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01. A week ago, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that bin Laden had been killed. In some ways, my life had moved on after the terrorist attacks to the point of seldom thinking of bin Laden or the al-Qaeda network of terrorists. The thoughts mainly popped up while traveling by air, with all the security regulations, scanning, etc. I would find myself surveying the fellow passengers waiting to board the plane. Are they a threat to my safety? I reasoned my "paranoia" to the better-be-safe-than-sorry philosophy.
Easter Sunday, a week before the news of bin Laden's killing, we were boarding a plane to return home after a week's vacation in Arizona. Standing in line to board, I heard shouting and I turned to see four men running towards the gate. My heart leaped into my throat and my first thought was, "I don't want to fly on this plane!" The men were of mid-Eastern descent with full black beards and turbans on their heads. They were shouting, "We need to get on the plane."
All the fears, warnings, racial profiling... whatever came to my mind. Luckily, the gate agent quickly intervened as the crowd parted for them and we all were silent. I am sure others had similar thoughts and we are all dumb-struck. At this time, I noticed that they were all wearing blue hockey jerseys and laughing at their predicament... being late for the plane. It seemed like a oxymoron... "terrorists" wearing hockey jerseys and laughing??? The gate agent told them that there had been a gate change and their plane was leaving from another gate and directed them across the gateway. RELIEF is what I felt. I can't deny it!
Yes, I'm glad that bin Laden is out of the picture. I think I speak for many of us when I say that our lives were affected by the 9/11/01 attacks. We will never be the same and maybe there's a lesson to be learned. Maybe we don't take things quite as much for granted. Hopefully, we don't take our freedoms for granted.
If those four men would have been flying on my plane, would I have gotten on the plane?
Yes, and I would have probably called my parents and as many siblings as I could, to say "I love you" before they told us to shut off our phones. Then I would have prayed that if it was my last flight, I was ready to fly to heaven. I have had a good life!
