Swanspirit
September 22nd, 2001, 01:46 PM
BLessings......
'BROTHER, IF YOU DON'T MIND... LET'S GET THE HELL
OUT OF HERE' By Usman Farman September 14, 2001
>
> My name is Usman Farman and I graduated from Bentley
with a Finance degree last May. I am 21 years old,
turning 22 in October; I am Pakistani, and I am
Muslim. Until September 10th 2001, I used to work at
the World Trade Center in building #7. I had friends
and acquaintances who worked in tower #1 right across
from me. Some made it out, and some are still
unaccounted for. I survived this horrible event.
>
> I'd like to share with you what I went through that
awful day, with the hopes that we can all stay strong
together; through this tragedy of yet untold
proportions. As I found out, regardless of who we are,
and where we come from, we only have each other.
>
> I commute into the city every morning on the train
from New Jersey. Rather, I used to. I still can't
believe what is happening. That morning I woke up and
crawled out of bed. I was thinking about flaking out
on the train and catching the late one, I remember
telling myself that I just had to get to work on time.
I ended up catching the 7:48 train, which put me in
Hoboken at 8:20 am. When I got there I thought about
getting something to eat, I decided against it and
took the PATH train to the World Trade Center. I
arrived at the World Trade at 8:40 in the morning. I
walked into the lobby of building 7 at 8:45, that's
when the first plane hit.
>
> Had I taken the late train, or gotten a bite to eat,
I would have been 5 minutes late and walking over the
crosswalk. Had that happened, I would have been caught
under a rain of fire and debris, I wouldn't be here
talking to you. I'd be dead.
>
> I was in the lobby, and I heard the first explosion;
it didn't register. They were doing construction
outside and I thought some scaffolding had fallen. I
took the elevators up to my office on the 27th floor.
When I walked in, the whole place was empty. There
were no alarms, no sprinklers, nothing. Our offices
are, or rather, were on the south side of building
seven. We were close enough to the North and South
Towers, that I could literally throw a stone from my
window and hit the North tower with it.
>
> My phone rang and I spoke with my mother and told
her that I was leaving, at that moment I saw an
explosion rip out of the second building. I called my
friend in Boston, waking her up and told her to tell
everyone I'm okay, and that I was leaving. I looked
down one last time and saw the square and fountain
that I eat lunch in, was covered in smoldering debris.
Apparently, I was one of the last to leave my
building, when I was on the way up in the elevators;
my co-workers from the office were in the stairwells
coming down. When I evacuated, there was no panic.
People were calm and helping each other; a pregnant
woman was being carried down the stairwell.
>
> I'll spare the more gruesome details of what I saw,
those are things that no one should ever have to see,
and beyond human decency to describe. Those are things
which will haunt me for the rest of my life, my heart
goes out to everyone who lost their lives that day,
and those who survived with the painful reminders of
what once was. Acquaintences of mine who made it out
of the towers, only got out because 1000 people formed
a human chain to find their way out of the smoke.
Everyone was a
hero that day.
>
> We were evacuated to the north side of building 7.
Still only 1 block from the towers. The security
people told us to go north and not to look back. 5
city blocks later I stopped and turned around to
watch. With a thousand people staring, we saw in shock
as the first tower collapsed. No one could believe it
was happening, it is still all too-surreal to imagine.
The next thing I remember is that a dark cloud of
glass and debris about 50 stories high came tumbling
towards us. I turned around and ran as fast as
possible. I didn't realize until yesterday that the
reason I'm still feeling so sore was that I fell down
trying to get away. What happened next is why I came
here to give this speech.
>
> I was on my back, facing this massive cloud that was
approaching, it must have been 600 feet off,
everything was already dark. I normally wear a pendant
around my neck, inscribed with an Arabic prayer for
safety; similar to the cross. A hesidic Jewish man
came up to me and held the pendant in his hand, and
looked at it. He read the Arabic out loud for a
second. What he said next, I will never forget. With a
deep Brooklyn accent he said "Brother, if you don't
mind, there is a cloud of glass coming at us, grab my
hand, lets get the hell out of here". He helped me
stand up, and we ran for what seemed like forever
without looking back. He was the last person I would
ever have thought, who would help me. If it weren't
for him, I probably would have been engulfed in
shattered glass and debris.
>
> I finally stopped about 20 blocks away, and looked
in horror as tower #2 came crashing down. Fear came
over me as I realized that some people were evacuated
to the streets below the towers. Like I said before,
no one could have thought those buildings could
collapse. We turned around and in shock and disbelief
and began the trek to midtown. It took me 3 hours to
get to my sisters office at 3 avenue and 47th street.
Some streets were completely deserted, completely
quiet, no cars, no nothing just the distant wail of
sirens. I managed to call home and say I was okay, and
get in touch with co-workers and friends whom I feared
were lost.
>
> We managed to get a ride to New Jersey. Looking back
as I crossed the George Washington Bridge, I could not
see the towers. It had really happened.
>
> As the world continues to reel from this tragedy,
people in the streets are lashing out. Not far from my
home, a Pakistani woman was run over on purpose as she
was crossing the parking lot to put groceries in her
car. Her only fault? That she had her head covered and
was wearing the traditional clothing of my homeland. I
am afraid for my family's well being within our
community. My older sister is too scared to take the
subway into work now. My 8-year-old sister's school is
under lockdown and armed watch by police.
>
> Violence only begets violence, and by lashing out at
each other in fear and hatred, we will become no
better than the faceless cowards who committed this
atrocity. If it weren't for that man who helped me get
up, I would most likely be in the hospital right now,
if not dead. Help came from the least expected place,
and goes only to show, that we are all in this
together regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity.
Those are principles that this country was founded on.
>
> Please take a moment to look at the people sitting
around you. Friends or strangers, in a time of crisis,
you would want the nearest person to help you if you
needed it. My help came from a man who I would never
have thought would normally even speak to me. Ask
yourselves now how you can help those people in New
York and Washington. You can donate blood, you can
send clothing, food, and money. Funds have been setup
in the New York area to help the families of fallen
firefighters, policemen, and emergency personnel. The
one thing that won't help, is if we fight amongst
ourselves, because it is then that we are doing
exactly what they want us to do, and I know that
nobody here wants to do that.
>
> My name is Usman Farman and I graduated from Bentley
with a Finance degree last May. I am 21 years old,
turning 22 in October; I am Pakistani, and I am
Muslim, and I too have been victimized by this awful
tragedy. The next time you feel angry about this, and
perhaps want to retaliate in your own way, please
remember these words:
>
> "Brother, if you don't mind, there is a cloud of
glass coming at us, grab my hand, let's get the hell
out of here."
Love and light
Swannie
'BROTHER, IF YOU DON'T MIND... LET'S GET THE HELL
OUT OF HERE' By Usman Farman September 14, 2001
>
> My name is Usman Farman and I graduated from Bentley
with a Finance degree last May. I am 21 years old,
turning 22 in October; I am Pakistani, and I am
Muslim. Until September 10th 2001, I used to work at
the World Trade Center in building #7. I had friends
and acquaintances who worked in tower #1 right across
from me. Some made it out, and some are still
unaccounted for. I survived this horrible event.
>
> I'd like to share with you what I went through that
awful day, with the hopes that we can all stay strong
together; through this tragedy of yet untold
proportions. As I found out, regardless of who we are,
and where we come from, we only have each other.
>
> I commute into the city every morning on the train
from New Jersey. Rather, I used to. I still can't
believe what is happening. That morning I woke up and
crawled out of bed. I was thinking about flaking out
on the train and catching the late one, I remember
telling myself that I just had to get to work on time.
I ended up catching the 7:48 train, which put me in
Hoboken at 8:20 am. When I got there I thought about
getting something to eat, I decided against it and
took the PATH train to the World Trade Center. I
arrived at the World Trade at 8:40 in the morning. I
walked into the lobby of building 7 at 8:45, that's
when the first plane hit.
>
> Had I taken the late train, or gotten a bite to eat,
I would have been 5 minutes late and walking over the
crosswalk. Had that happened, I would have been caught
under a rain of fire and debris, I wouldn't be here
talking to you. I'd be dead.
>
> I was in the lobby, and I heard the first explosion;
it didn't register. They were doing construction
outside and I thought some scaffolding had fallen. I
took the elevators up to my office on the 27th floor.
When I walked in, the whole place was empty. There
were no alarms, no sprinklers, nothing. Our offices
are, or rather, were on the south side of building
seven. We were close enough to the North and South
Towers, that I could literally throw a stone from my
window and hit the North tower with it.
>
> My phone rang and I spoke with my mother and told
her that I was leaving, at that moment I saw an
explosion rip out of the second building. I called my
friend in Boston, waking her up and told her to tell
everyone I'm okay, and that I was leaving. I looked
down one last time and saw the square and fountain
that I eat lunch in, was covered in smoldering debris.
Apparently, I was one of the last to leave my
building, when I was on the way up in the elevators;
my co-workers from the office were in the stairwells
coming down. When I evacuated, there was no panic.
People were calm and helping each other; a pregnant
woman was being carried down the stairwell.
>
> I'll spare the more gruesome details of what I saw,
those are things that no one should ever have to see,
and beyond human decency to describe. Those are things
which will haunt me for the rest of my life, my heart
goes out to everyone who lost their lives that day,
and those who survived with the painful reminders of
what once was. Acquaintences of mine who made it out
of the towers, only got out because 1000 people formed
a human chain to find their way out of the smoke.
Everyone was a
hero that day.
>
> We were evacuated to the north side of building 7.
Still only 1 block from the towers. The security
people told us to go north and not to look back. 5
city blocks later I stopped and turned around to
watch. With a thousand people staring, we saw in shock
as the first tower collapsed. No one could believe it
was happening, it is still all too-surreal to imagine.
The next thing I remember is that a dark cloud of
glass and debris about 50 stories high came tumbling
towards us. I turned around and ran as fast as
possible. I didn't realize until yesterday that the
reason I'm still feeling so sore was that I fell down
trying to get away. What happened next is why I came
here to give this speech.
>
> I was on my back, facing this massive cloud that was
approaching, it must have been 600 feet off,
everything was already dark. I normally wear a pendant
around my neck, inscribed with an Arabic prayer for
safety; similar to the cross. A hesidic Jewish man
came up to me and held the pendant in his hand, and
looked at it. He read the Arabic out loud for a
second. What he said next, I will never forget. With a
deep Brooklyn accent he said "Brother, if you don't
mind, there is a cloud of glass coming at us, grab my
hand, lets get the hell out of here". He helped me
stand up, and we ran for what seemed like forever
without looking back. He was the last person I would
ever have thought, who would help me. If it weren't
for him, I probably would have been engulfed in
shattered glass and debris.
>
> I finally stopped about 20 blocks away, and looked
in horror as tower #2 came crashing down. Fear came
over me as I realized that some people were evacuated
to the streets below the towers. Like I said before,
no one could have thought those buildings could
collapse. We turned around and in shock and disbelief
and began the trek to midtown. It took me 3 hours to
get to my sisters office at 3 avenue and 47th street.
Some streets were completely deserted, completely
quiet, no cars, no nothing just the distant wail of
sirens. I managed to call home and say I was okay, and
get in touch with co-workers and friends whom I feared
were lost.
>
> We managed to get a ride to New Jersey. Looking back
as I crossed the George Washington Bridge, I could not
see the towers. It had really happened.
>
> As the world continues to reel from this tragedy,
people in the streets are lashing out. Not far from my
home, a Pakistani woman was run over on purpose as she
was crossing the parking lot to put groceries in her
car. Her only fault? That she had her head covered and
was wearing the traditional clothing of my homeland. I
am afraid for my family's well being within our
community. My older sister is too scared to take the
subway into work now. My 8-year-old sister's school is
under lockdown and armed watch by police.
>
> Violence only begets violence, and by lashing out at
each other in fear and hatred, we will become no
better than the faceless cowards who committed this
atrocity. If it weren't for that man who helped me get
up, I would most likely be in the hospital right now,
if not dead. Help came from the least expected place,
and goes only to show, that we are all in this
together regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity.
Those are principles that this country was founded on.
>
> Please take a moment to look at the people sitting
around you. Friends or strangers, in a time of crisis,
you would want the nearest person to help you if you
needed it. My help came from a man who I would never
have thought would normally even speak to me. Ask
yourselves now how you can help those people in New
York and Washington. You can donate blood, you can
send clothing, food, and money. Funds have been setup
in the New York area to help the families of fallen
firefighters, policemen, and emergency personnel. The
one thing that won't help, is if we fight amongst
ourselves, because it is then that we are doing
exactly what they want us to do, and I know that
nobody here wants to do that.
>
> My name is Usman Farman and I graduated from Bentley
with a Finance degree last May. I am 21 years old,
turning 22 in October; I am Pakistani, and I am
Muslim, and I too have been victimized by this awful
tragedy. The next time you feel angry about this, and
perhaps want to retaliate in your own way, please
remember these words:
>
> "Brother, if you don't mind, there is a cloud of
glass coming at us, grab my hand, let's get the hell
out of here."
Love and light
Swannie