New Recording 8 (online-audio-converter.com)

Yahya Alami, originally from Syria, discusses the events of 9/11. He explains that terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, causing a lot of damage and affecting many people. Yahya shares his personal experience of dropping his mother off at the airport that day and the anxiety he felt waiting to hear if she was safe. He reflects on the impact of 9/11 on his mental health and discusses how Boston, where he was living at the time, reacted to the news. Yahya emphasizes that he tries to focus on positive things and avoid dwelling on the sadness of 9/11. He also mentions a few incidents of discrimination his wife experienced following the attack. Overall, 9/11 was a tragic and unforgettable event that affected many lives. Okay, hello, what is your name? My name is Yahya Alami. And where are you from? I'm from Syria, originally. Okay. And what are we talking about today? We're talking about 9-11. Okay, what is 9-11? 9-11 is a black day in the United States. Terrorists attacked the World Trade Center using airplanes. And who was affected during 9-11? A lot of people. A lot of people in New York City, in Manhattan, and also the Pentagon. And there was one plane, airplane, that was brought down in Pennsylvania. Okay, and tell us about your experience during 9-11. It's a tough experience. As I mentioned, it was a tough day. As a matter of fact, the whole world came to a halt. You can see everybody is watching the news, everybody is watching the TV set. I was going to work, and I was listening to the radio. And around that time, they came up on the radio and they said, an airplane hit the World Trade Center. And ironically, I said, wow, that guy must have been flying really low to hit the World Trade Center. Until I got to work, and then when I got to work, I found out that that was intentional, that was not accident. And can you tell us more about when you were driving your mother to the airport? Yes, on that day, my mother was going back home to Syria, and I dropped her off at the airport early in the morning. And I called work and I said, I'm going to be late a little bit, because I wanted to make sure that she gets in fine, because she doesn't speak English. So I wanted to make sure that she goes okay. And then that's when I was driving back to work. So when I was driving back to work, and I got to work, and when I heard the news, and my mother's flight took off from Boston to London. Then from London, she was going to go to Syria. We did not know where she was. We did not know what happened. I kept calling British Airways, and finally they answered, and they told me the flight is on its way to London. And when she got to London, there was another person with her who was nice enough, who had communication access, they called us from there to let me know that. They landed in London fine, safely, but she missed her connection, so they had to stay overnight and take the next flight over to Syria. Okay, how does this event relate to your identity, and how did it affect your past? I don't think it reflects my identity. I don't know, that's a tough question. How would it reflect my identity? I don't relate to any of this at all. As I mentioned, it was a sad day, a black day. A black, dark day in the United States, and this is where I live. What's a key memory you have from this event? I don't keep it actually in my memory. I don't like to keep those kind of things in my memory. I like to keep happy things in my memory, such as the Celtics are playing, the Celtics are winning. But to keep this in my memory, I don't think so. I would love to see our country prosper, and safe, and for everybody, just like it was established on. How has this event impacted your mental health? It did affect my mental health, because up to this day, I don't understand why such a thing would happen. It doesn't make any sense to me. There is no reason for this to happen. Nobody benefits from this. It causes more damage than it would help anybody, even if they thought it would help them get a message out. But I think, in my opinion, if they need to get a message, you can get a message out in a positive way more than in a negative way. When you were talking about your mom, what thoughts were racing through your mind when you couldn't get a hold of her? Safety. Where is she? Is she okay? Is she safe? Was she diverted to a different country? Because, again, she is vulnerable. She doesn't speak another language other than Arabic. She was, at that time, I think she was seventy-something, seventy-five, I think. So, a little bit older. So, for me, it was very important that she gets home safe. So, that's what was racing through my mind. Because, if you think of it, if something had happened to her, then that would have been it for me. I wouldn't have been able to see her again. Do you think this event affected the way other people saw you, given the fact that you're Arab? To be honest with you, I got more support that day from work. They asked me if I needed help. They asked me if anybody had talked to me badly. So, I think I respected all those offers from the company I used to work for. And the people, they were fine. I think we live in a country where people understand that this is not controlled by us who work here, live here, and obey the law and pay taxes. You said you were in Boston at the time. How did Boston react to the news, if you remember? Well, Boston is just like any other city, but Boston got hit the most because two, I think, two or three airplanes flew out to Boston. I think it's two. Two airplanes flew out to Boston, so Boston took it personally that two of them were the cause of the World Trade Center. So, as you know, we have a slang, as Boston Strong, so people here, they're strong. They overcome those issues. How did 9-11 affect your everyday life going forward? As I mentioned, I really don't think of it much. I think of the positive things. 9-11 was not a good day. Every year when 9-11 comes, I try to focus on things because I know it's going to be mentioned in the news, and the news would bring it back up again so everybody remembers 9-11. And I try to avoid that as much as I can. If you could go back in time and change one thing you did that day, what would it be? I would not have let my mom flew out to Syria that day. That's one thing. The other thing is, if I could have... I mean, this is what I can do. There's nothing else that I really could have done back in time other than... But how would I have known? Nobody knew. What other major events have you experienced that related to this? Other events? Nothing really yet. Like I said, it's an event that I try to not focus on, remember, because it's so sad. I try to avoid the news that they talk about it, even though it's important. I mean, we know it. Everybody knows it. Everybody reads about it. But we have to move forward. Can you go a little bit more into depth about how your day was that day? Yes. So, my mom's flight was at, I believe, 8 o'clock in the morning. And I took her to the airport around 6 o'clock. And by the time we went through ticketing and get her luggage checked in, and then, because I just wanted to make sure that she goes in fine, so I waited for her until she passed security. And then she waved at me and then saying goodbye. And I left the airport then, and it was probably around 7, a little bit before 7. Then on my way to work, I called work, and I was supposed to be there at 7.30. And I said, I'm running a little bit late, because between the airport and Norwood, it would take me a little bit more than half an hour to get there. And that's when I was listening to the news, and I heard the news. Can you elaborate more on that day once you got to work? Yeah, when I got to work, as I mentioned, I was listening to the news in the car, and they said there's an airplane that hit the World Trade Center. And I said, wow, that pilot is flying really low. Then I get to work, and I see a dead silence at work. And I found out that this was intentional, it wasn't really an accident. So everybody was listening to the news, and we had two TVs in the break area, so they had the TVs turned on, CNN and I don't know what other channel. And they were showing the chaos that was happening, and how people were panicking, people were running, the ambulances, the firefighters, everybody, it was just chaos. So yeah, everybody was sitting and just staring at the TV. In a way, if you look at everybody, it was like shock. Everybody was shocked. And not believing this happened. It was unbelievable, you cannot believe it. It was like, wake me up, I'm dreaming. Did you know anyone else that was affected during 9-11? No, but I had a financial advisor who worked in, I think from American Express at that time, and I think their office was in Manhattan. So I think I emailed her just to make sure that she's okay, and she responded, and she said, yes, we are okay. She thanked me actually for remembering that she was there. But other than that, not really. The company I worked for, the headquarter was like half an hour, 45 minutes out of New York City, out of Manhattan. And we had some field service engineers that they were in Manhattan, and luckily they were all accounted for, everybody was safe, and they reported back to the company that they're fine, they're safe, and nothing happened. I know you said that you were not affected racially, but do you know if your wife was? Not directly because of 9-11. Of course I think 9-11 was probably a spark that caused racial things to happen, especially for Muslims. But it wasn't really direct for my wife, but as the event moves on, I think people started to get a little bit more angry at people that they looked Muslim. Like my wife, she wears the scarf on her head, and she would be treated a little bit differently, but I wouldn't say the majority, I would say of course the minority of people, they would treat her differently. But yes, we had a couple of incidents where we went into a department store, and one cashier, she said, I refuse to serve you. So we talked to the manager, and the manager took care of that, they just moved her to a different area, they brought somebody else, but that lady, she said, I would refuse to serve you. Which we felt unfair and uncomfortable, because we didn't do anything wrong, but that's what it's been, and again, that would be the minority, of course, with any event like this, you would see people do something like that. Besides airports being shut down, do you know anything else that was shut down? Everything. Airports, I believe tunnels, seaports, I think even borders between Canada and Mexico, anything that's land-borne. So were the roads closed as well? No. Traffic was moving, but everybody was glued to the TV, so you wouldn't see too much traffic out there, because everybody was glued to the TV. So did that affect you when you were in work, trying to get a hold? Oh yeah, I was on the phone, like I mentioned, I was on the phone with British Airways, trying to find out what happened to my mother's flight, until I got a hold of somebody, because as you can imagine, I think everybody was trying to call in to find out. So they told me where she was, and what hotel she was in, so we talked to her, because actually she was with a person who flew from here, who took care of my mom, he didn't know her, but he was from Syria also, and they had some type of a communication. So we communicated with them to make sure that she's okay. Actually, now I remember, that person called his wife, to tell her that he's with my mom, and to call my house. And I wasn't home, I was at work, so that lady called my house, and she left me a message on an answering machine, which we don't use nowadays. Left me a message that I just heard from my husband, and he's with your mom, and they're okay, they're safe, but they missed their connecting flight, so they will be going to Syria the next day. Okay, are there any extra details you would like to add? Any extra details, yeah. Yes, actually, it's funny, 9-11 happened in 2001, September of 2001, of course. I was supposed to go to Syria, to get married, a week after my mom left. Now, when this happened, I did not know that the airports are going to be open, or the flights are going to be flying. We had all planned out the wedding, and the reservation, and my wife was waiting, so I left the United States, I believe, on 9-17 or 9-18, and the wedding was scheduled for 9-27. So, during that time, I was talking to my wife, and we were trying to see if we should postpone it, or we should have it, and we had everything planned. We had the reception area, the hall, and everything else, and everybody was, you know, the invitations, and all set, so we said we'll keep it for the 27th, but when I went on the 17th, I found out that the hall we rented to have the wedding, my brothers canceled because they thought I was not going to go there, so I was really upset because I had to find another hall, a function hall, in 6-7 days, maybe less, so that was a challenge, which I did. Then we got married, and then came back here with my wife, so that was really something interesting, but everything seemed normal when I went there and came back, nothing really major, which I thought it was going to be a hassle. Do you know how long everything was shut down for? The airports, I think, I don't think more than one day, the airports, but what was interesting, during that time when it happened, they grounded all the flights, so all the flights came down, so the sky was, no flights in the sky. But the next day, I think, they started flying again. I really don't remember the details for that one. What was the airport security like before 9-11 happened? Security at the airport before it happened? I think it was normal, I couldn't tell if it was normal or abnormal, I couldn't really, when my mom, when I dropped her off, it was fine, it was just like normal, just like everyday security at the airport, nothing was major. Has the security advanced? Oh, a lot, after 9-11, yes, security has advanced, I think now they have, not just security, I think they have good data on who goes in, who goes out, and even the scanning machines, I think they're much better, they scan, maybe they didn't have good scanning machines when this happened, now they do. They have a lot more people, I think, now that they work at the airport. Do you have any last words? Last words specifically for 9-11? Yeah. As I said, it's a day that I would not like to remember, it's a sad day, it's an ugly day, a lot of innocent people died for no reason. I wish this never happened at all, because this caused many more things to happen, more erupted because of this. As you know, the United States went into Iraq after 2001, in 2003, I think, no, it's 2001, that's when they went and they bombed Iraq, and then they bombed Afghanistan, and then they went into a full mission of war in 2003. So all of this trickled down to something that we really didn't need. I wish this never happened. And it's a day that the United States will always remember, they will never forget, and that's a problem, because as long as this day, this is a stamp in history that this day happened, and if they don't forget it, then things are just going to trickle down always. But we just have to think of the positive things that maybe came out of this, if there's any. We are more secure, I think, because security at the airport is much better. We learned from it. So, yeah, and one more thing that I really remember is the stock market tumbled the following day. They closed the stock market the same day, but the following day the stock market went berserk and just tumbled. So economically, this had a major, major effect on the U.S., economically, huge, especially when you hit the World Trade Center in New York. So that's something I remember also. It took a while for the U.S. to regain that momentum in the economy, and they took it, you know, it's something that's personal. Okay, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you.