Bomber

About two years ago I was in New York City for a class field trip. We experienced all the normal things that tourists do. We went to the top of the Empire State Building. We walked around Central Park. And we went to a Broadway show. The night of the Broadway show is when our typical trip evolved.

As we walked out of the theater we were expecting to find the city alive with people walking from store to store, tourists taking pictures in Times Square, and New Yorkers pushing past tourists. We definitely did not expect to see camera crews, news reporters, or police tape blocking off roads.

While we were watching Mary Poppins someone tried to set off a car bomb in Times Square. Luckily a street vendor noticed something odd about the abandoned car and notified police.

If the vendor hadn't done that, I don't know what would have happened. I may be hurt, or I may not have even made it out of the tragedy alive.

From this event I realized how unexpected life can be. I also realized that there is a reason I was kept on this planet. It would have been so easy for the car bomb to go unnoticed, but for some reason it wasn't. My life as well as everyone in Times Square was spared.

A few days ago I was looking thru some top news web sites. One of the top stories on all of the sites was about an al-Qaida recruit who was on trial for attempting to bomb the subways in New York City. This story reminded me of the time I was in New York City and how unexpected life is. So I chose to use the story fulfill the Storify assignment I had to do for one of my classes.