[golfing eagles]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

I was working a temp job at Pratt-Whitney on 9/11. We had the TV news running in the background while we were configuring helicopter parts for the military. This was in North Haven, CT, around 1 hour away from NYC.

All of a sudden the guy sitting behind me in the office yelled something like "oh sh**!" or "OH MY GOD" or something equally attention-grabbing. We turned to watch the first tower burning, and the announcers proclaiming that it was a terrorist attack.

The guy who drew our attention to the TV then said something like "you know, this plant (our Pratt-Whitney building) would make a great target for them too.

I didn't even say a word. I fled from the building and went home. After I was able to breathe normally again I called the temp agency and told them what happened and that I wasn't going back to that job.

What happened was not the act of "those Arabs." It was the act of a very specific group of terrorists.

Not all brown-skinned people are terrorists. Not all hijab-wearing women are oppressed. Not all turban-wearing men are even Arabs, OR members of any terrorist movement. And not all Muslims are terrorists. In fact, most are not. The fringe are. Just like the fringe of white-skinned American people are white supremacists and neo-Nazis and "alt-right." They don't represent America.

Can't really argue with that and I (reluctantly) agree. But there are 2,996 dead people who would probably be even more reluctant.