Good afternoon District 27. Today, as I walked to the post office to pick up my mail, I saw the flag at half-staff. I paused to take a moment of silence in honor of those loved ones and American patriots who lost their lives on 9/11 in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC. This day has always been one of great somberness. The tragic events of this day affected me personally. Below I will describe in detail how the events of 9/11 changed my life.
I can still remember where I was that morning. I did my morning routine of waking up, showering, eating breakfast, and then bicycling to work. I was oblivious as to what was going on around me until I approached an intersection on my mountain bike to make a left turn to go to my office. A car had driven up alongside of me and was making a right turn. In the vehicle was a woman who was driving with her car window rolled down. She was listening to her radio with tears dripping down her cheeks. I thought to myself, “I wonder why she is crying?” I then proceeded through the intersection and arrived at my office setting. I walked through the doors and the guys at work told me that there had been a terror attack at the World Trade Centers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, DC. They showed me the photos broadcast on the internet. I was beyond belief. I had been in the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 28, 1992 (see photo) and thought to myself, certainly, those buildings made of steel and concrete would not come down. It overwhelmed me. I quickly contacted my Regional Office Supervisor and asked what we should do, considering the safety of my employees and the concern for their families. I was directed to shut the office down and that everyone was to go home and spend time with their families. For the next three hours, I stood in disbelief while watching the TV screen in my apartment the onslaught of video footage showing the two airplanes penetrating the Twin Towers with the implosion of the towers in their wake. My mind was numb and restless. I had to get out of that apartment. I headed to the gym to work off my frustration and anger. It was the first time in my life that I had experienced war on American soil. Grant it, I recall the first Gulf War under President George Bush, Sr., but this was nothing like that. The tragedy of watching people jump from the burning Twin Towers to save their lives and/or watching fire rescue members go into a burning building, only to die under the rubble was unimaginable. People on both sides of the political spectrum were brought to their knees wondering how this could have happened. People from all walks of life were in utter shock and could not understand how such evil forces could prevail.
The hijackers had found a fatal flaw in our airport security systems and took advantage of the opportunity to take down America’s iconic monuments. Thankfully though, a small group of heroes on United Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco brought down the fateful flight which prevented more lives from being lost that day. The slogan “Let’s Roll” would become a battle cry during the war on terror in honor of these passengers and flight crew members.
After the collapse, Americans watched on their TV screens as the First Responders worked tirelessly in the crucial hours immediately after the collapse, trying to locate trapped bodies buried under the pile of steel beams and concrete. I still remember the scenes where one could hear chirping sounds from the hundreds of PASS devices (Personal Alert Safety System) (1) from the jackets of the buried First Responders. Small glimpses of hope would prevail, but soon enough, time marched on and people steadily went about their lives in the days and months ahead.
The aftermath of 9/11 was a period where the country was united. People across the globe reached out to the United States and aided us in our mourning and suffering, especially our Canadian neighbors to the north who helped many Americans who were stranded from the grounded air travel. I recall personally having an employee stranded overseas in Southeast Asia in Thailand or Vietnam for weeks before she could come home. Americans across the country got on the patriotic bandwagon by displaying Old Glory outside their homes. I purchased 9/11 memorial stamps and a Christmas ornament (see posted photos) to remember that tragic day as I decorate each year my Christmas tree.
In April 2008, my mom, my baby brother, his wife, and their two oldest children, and I visited “Ground Zero” and observed the progress of the reclamation that was done 6 ½ years later (see posted photos). We saw the infamous cross found in the debris pile that was vaulted up against a nearby building. It was an eerie feeling to see an ominous hole in the ground where I had once been 107 stories in the air having cocktails and hors d'oeuvres back in September 1992.
A wedding couple had asked me to be a groomsman at their wedding and I obliged. The wedding was in Long Island, and we decided to rent a limousine and tour the sites of Manhattan on the Monday before their wedding which was scheduled for the following weekend. One of the stops on our whirlwind tour was to go to the top floor of the World Trade Center. The “Windows on the World” was in the North Tower (Building One) of the original World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan. I recall the elevator ride to the Windows on the World was a little over a minute because we were going directly to the top. We walked in and entered the cloakroom. The checker asked us our jacket size since we needed a suit jacket to enter the restaurant area. I didn’t know what my jacket size was. He said, “You look like a 42R.” He was correct. The jacket fit me perfectly. We were there briefly to enjoy the New York City skyline. I still remember looking out the windows and watching people dancing on the same floor level, in the other twin tower, directly across from me. It was surreal to think that a 24-year-old South Dakota farm boy who pitched manure out of hog barns could be atop the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan at the center of the economic and financial powerhouse of the world. I haven’t been back to New York since this trip other than to fly through its gateway airports on my way to Europe.
As you know, life has changed in many ways since 9/11 and we are no longer a country that is united but divided. The evil forces are lurking once again to destroy this country. Millions of undocumented aliens have come to this country illegally by walking across our southern border without being properly vetted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE, for short). It is just a matter of time before we have a repeat of another 9/11 tragic event. The sleeper cells and cartels are already here waiting and planning for the opportune time to strike against innocent civilians.
In many ways, we are seeing a small part of 9/11 play out across this country in America’s urban centers. Do any of these names sound familiar: Officer Daryl Raetz, Delilah McDaniel, Deputy Sheriff Daniel Oliver, Deputy Michael Davis, Brittany Williams, Naomi Mercury, Parker Moore, Michael Grubbs, Bob Barry Jr., Kathryn "Kate" Steinle, Margaret "Peggy" Kostelnik, Brandy Lee Thorne, Jamiel "Jas" Shaw, Sergeant Brandon Mendoza, and many more who are memorialized at this online memorial website: http://www.ojjpac.org/memorial.asp. These are the victims of illegal aliens that have migrated to our country. When will it happen within our local South Dakota communities? It probably has already happened, but it hasn't received the airtime from our local media.
In a post-9/11 era, the love I have for my country has never diminished. This day makes me all the more want to fight for what is right and just. If elected your state senator, I will support our Governor in protecting our southern border by supporting our men and women in the National Guard who will stand up for our freedom and protect us Americans first. When one is elected to the state senate, the senator executes the duty of his office by taking an oath to “solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of South Dakota, and will faithfully discharge the duties of a senator, according to the best of my abilities.” The present Biden-Harris Administration has failed to secure the border by allowing these illegal and undocumented aliens to enter our country illegally and has failed to uphold their constitutional duties and protect its own citizens. If elected as your state senator, I promise that I will do my utmost best to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of South Dakota, so help me God. God bless.
1. Source: https://www.911memorial.org/node/98236
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