Where I Was

So where were you eight years ago on this day when the 9/11 attacks happened?

That time, I was working as an emergency room nurse in a small Eastern Saudi province called Ras Tanura. It was in the wee hours  of the morning when it happened. There were no patients that time, and the tv was on at the waiting area. Flash news started appearing on all channels.

I was working with some Muslim colleagues that shift, and I will never forget their comments about what’s happening in the United States. They said it’s good for the Americans. And that they deserved it. I wondered what they were thinking why they hated the U.S.  so much. Thousands of people were dying, and they could say something like that.

Two weeks after the incident in the U.S., I had to fly home to the Philippines passing at FIVE airports. I experienced long queues at airports because they had to be strict with all passengers, especially those coming from Saudi. Luggages had to be opened and hand carried bags could contain only limited stuff.

I took a shuttle bus from Dhahran Airport to Bahrain Airport. From there I took a plane with connecting flights in Dubai and Hongkong. I stayed in Hongkong for two days before I reached Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila.

And that’s my story. Wala lang, nakuwento ko lang! Hehe!

(photo credits: z.about.com, zdnet.com)

Where God Wants Me

This is another old forwarded email worth sharing. I am not sure who the original author is. This is in time for tomorrow’s commemoration of the 9/11 attacks eight years ago. Hope you like it.

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One day I happened to call a man on business whom I will probably never talk to again, but this day God wanted me to talk to him.

He was head of security at a company that had invited the remaining members of a company who had been decimated by the attack on the Twin Towers to share their office space. With his voice full of awe, he told me stories of why these people were alive and their counterparts were dead.

All the stories were just little things.

You might know about the head of the company who got in late that day because his son started kindergarten.

Another fellow was alive because it was his turn to bring donuts.

The one that struck me was the man who put on a new pair of shoes that morning.
He took the various means to get to work, but before he got there, he developed a blister on his foot. He stopped at a drugstore to buy a Band-Aid. That is why he is alive.

So, Now when I am stuck in traffic, miss an elevator, turn back to answer a ringing telephone… all the little things that annoy me… I think to myself, this is exactly where God wants me to be at this very moment.

May God continue to bless you with all those annoying little things.

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(video from wesleyschacht)