First of all, I would like to say that even though this is a comic book related website and blog, I know this is not the normal platform for this kind of post. But, I needed to say something as my own tribute to that fateful day 15 years ago and how God used me to change a woman’s life in a good and bad way. 15 years ago I was going to class at a local junior college minding my own business and not even interested in reading any comic book related material. My classes consisted of computer related courses like Microsoft and Linux, which are some of my passions. For months leading up to this September day, I was an online counselor for an AOL chatroom. In doing this, I befriended a woman in New York asking for my help in trying to locate her long lost brother that went missing through an adoption mishap years ago. I wasn’t too savvy in that line of work. But, I knew where to get certain information online so we started private messaging each other and formed a close friendship in working with her on this project. One day, I was very lucky and found out that he was also in New York and worked in one of the World Trade Center towers. I shared the information with her and found out that she stares at that building right out of her bathroom every morning across the bay. She was shocked that she was so close and yet so far away from her brother. Through emailing back and forth between the three of us, they set up a meeting for the following weekend after 9/11. 15 years later, we know what happened on that date. She never had the chance to finally meet her brother that she wanted to know for a lifetime. God used this handicapped man in a wheelchair from Illinois to bring a little joy in this woman’s life but that morning she witnessed while getting ready for work, a plane crash right into the very tower and floor that her brother worked and was on. We kept in touch until one day, six months later, I received a call from her mother telling me that she was involved in a car accident. A drunk driver hit her. And just like that, my friend was taken from me. I would never speak with her again. But, even through all that tragedy, I still realize that even though I would never speak to her again, she was now in Heaven with her brother and would finally get to meet him as she had always wanted. And one day, I will get to see her again.
Just like that tragedy, God uses events to re-shape industries and worlds as we know it. Many comic book writers and artists use their craft as a healing process going forward after that day of Sept 11th. As tragic as it was, we should not forget but honor the ones we lost but move forward to a brighter and prosperous future.
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