9/11 Survivor: Don't Live Life in Fear, But Live It to the Fullest
by Chad Groening
September 11, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A retired New York Port Authority officer who was pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center says the best things Americans can do is to not live in fear of terrorism. Will Jimeno says he plans to spend this fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks at home with his family. But on that tragic day five years ago, Jimeno and Sergeant John McLoughlin spend hours buried beneath the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center before being miraculously rescued. Jimeno says he is grateful that God has given him the chance to tell his story. (Read more of Jimeno's story>
The rescued Port Authority officer says "when it's your time and God calls you ... it's your time." But what matters, he adds, is what one does with his or her time while here on Earth.
"I feel that, if we continue to fear the terrorists -- which I don't feel we do -- they'll win. That's what they want us to do, and I refuse to do that," he shares, adding that he also refuses to instill that type of fear in his children. "You know, my kids have gotten on planes [since then, and] my kids understand there's bad things in the world," he says. "But I feel there's so much good in this world that it will overpower the negative."
The 9/11 survivor says while he is concerned about his children, he also is determined not to allow terrorists to touch another generation.
"I teach them that there are bad people in this world -- I tell this to them as a police officer -- but that's why you have cops, firefighters, the military. 'We're there to protect you,'" he tells them. Still, he acknowledges that bad things will happen.
"I'm driving around, and I could have an accident," he suggests, "... but that does not mean that you bow down to fear. You get on your planes, you get on your trains, you go and you live your life to the fullest."
While Jimeno's story and that of fellow survivor McLoughlin has been immortalized in the film World Trade Center, he reminds people that there were many other heroes that fateful day.
Read an analysis of the movie World Trade Center
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
