I didn’t post about this last year. Things were still too hard. I’m doing a little better emotionally, but this day is always very somber. No matter where you go, when this day comes around, the question always remains the same: Where were you on September 11th, 2001?
I remember that morning very clearly. I was at work — not too far from where I was working until recently, in fact. It was a slow morning, so I had hopped onto IRC and was happily chatting in several of my favorite channels. Someone announced in #phrozencrew that a plane had crashed into one of the World Trade Center buildings. I jumped onto the CNN website because they had live streams on their site, so I could watch the TV feed in real-time.
“Surely it was a mistake,” I remember thinking. “No one would do such a thing on purpose.”
I had just tuned in when the second plane had hit. As tears streamed down my face, I couldn’t believe my eyes. One was a mistake. Two was on purpose. The crash on the Pentagon soon followed. Someone was attacking us. Someone wanted to send us a message. It came through loud and clear. All those innocent people! Who would do such a thing? It would be hours later before we all knew for sure.
At that moment, my mind shifted to loved ones who I knew were in New York that day. One friend, a teacher at NYU, who I knew was located near the Towers couldn’t be reached. Another, who I knew for certain worked in the WTC, and I couldn’t reach either. A handful of other friends I knew were in the area, but not sure of where exactly they were located. I spent a good part of the morning frantically dialing and emailing anyone and everyone I could think of, all the while watching the atrocities unfold live, right before my very eyes. I remember hearing coworkers trying to reach their loved ones. One woman I knew was desperately trying to page her daughter, who was in flight somewhere over the East Coast.
At this point no one could concentrate on work. A TV was rolled into the breakroom and we all huddled around it. We all watched in horror when each tower collapsed, then reports of another plane crash (Flight 93) flashed across the screen. The rest of the day was spent in complete shock. I don’t remember anything else about that week, just that day. As a people, we all embraced and pulled together as one. This was not just a tragedy for New York, it was a tragedy for us all. We were ALL affected.
What worries me is that there is a large number of people now who seem to have forgotten what happened on that day. That number multiplies exponentially with each passing anniversary. Why has complacency set in?
I can’t be complacent. I can’t help but feel, and remember. I remember the horrors — seeing people jump to their deaths over and over again, the heroes that raced in to help who were never seen again, the bodies pulled from the rubble, the agony of the poor souls still looking for lost loved ones. I remember everything. I still have the nightmares. And every September 11th, I must mentally and emotionally go back there and re-live everything all over again …
… Because to forget would be the greatest tragedy of all.
So, where were you on 9-11?
Don
Great post!!
I was in the den listening to a local sports talk show on the radio when one of the guys said TV was showing that a plane had hit one of the WTC towers. Like you, Nikki, I thought it was a terrible accident and I turned the TV on. When another plane hit the other tower I knew someone was attacking the USA.
The rest of the day until early evening was really tense in this house because our older daughter Terry was in Chicago attending a Discover Card meeting which we thought could be in the Sears Tower and it could also be a target. Phone lines were clogged and we couldn’t reach her nor her husband back home north of Atlanta. Finally she was able to call her husband and assure him that she was alive and well.
All flights were cancelled so rented a car and drove home.
Terry was making great money with Discover Card, but that day changed her direction in life. She decided it was more important to be alive and at home helping her husband raise their 2 boys than it was to get rich while having to spend so much time travelling around the country on business. She resigned from her position and then she used her artistic talents and and started her own business. Its website is @ http://www.extremecabinetmakeover.com/