9/11 Pledge of Allegiance

Negotiating a car on congested New Jersey roads offers many opportunities for reflection. In commemoration of the five-year anniversary of the horrific terrorism that occurred on September 11, 2001, an FM radio station rebroadcast sound bites in actual time as they unfolded. As my car radio played chaos of a scrambling nation, I looked up in the sky and observed no less than a passenger airplane disappear behind the clouds. The quite natural event startled me because my ears were taking in soundtrack of people running for their lives amidst World Trade Center building collapse caused from kamikaze hijacked planes.

When the radioed sound bite ended, the plane innocently emerged from cloud cover. My thoughts returned inward, I peered into my rearview mirror only to see a cab rolled up behind me in the snarled traffic. An olive skinned man wearing a turban headress guarded the wheel of the taxi whose center roof marquee spelled none other than Liberty. As I mouthed the word “Liberty” in disbelief, I finished the pledge of allegiance with “and justice for all”.