It's a sad reminder of the terror we all felt that day, and the days that followed.
A few of us at work were looking back on the day it happened, and where we were and what we were doing.
I remember listening to the Cleveland big band radio station at work, and the announcer cutting in to say that a plane had struck one of the Twin Towers. That's about all he said, and it was stated so matter-of-factly that I thought that it had been just someone in a Cessna or something. An accident.
When the second plane struck, and the announcement (without details) came over the radio, then we knew something was going on – and proceeded to the company's hospitality room, where there was a working TV. Everyone was in shock at what they saw.
After a little while, I decided to call my parents, just to check on them. When Mom answered, I remarked as to how it was all so unbelievable what was happening, and asked her what she thought was going on.
Mom answered, "What are you talking about?" Mom and Dad didn't have their TV on. They had no idea what was unfolding in New York, Washington D. C. or Pennsylvania. I told her to turn on her TV, and to be ready for a shock.
My employer at that time let all the employees out early that day, and I remember driving home nervously. It was a very unsettling feeling for a few days until it was apparent that the attacks had concluded.
Since it was more than 20 years ago, 9/11 often seems to have lost its significance to many. It seems so long ago; a whole generation has grown up that weren't even born yet when it happened.
It's probably like my hearing about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor when I was a kid. It seemed like ancient history; after all, Pearl Harbor happened 18 years before I was born.
Now I know otherwise.
I hope we never forget the people who lost their lives on 9/11, and how – for a little while at least – we were united as a country.
My NYC office was just across the street (Vesey Street) from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I saw the burning towers, airplane parts on the street (Church Street) north of crash, and people jumping to their deaths. It was horrible.
ReplyDeleteI was in New York that day. I had just gone over to New Jersey for a meeting when someone said that a plane had hit one of the towers. They were visible from where I was; we could see smoke coming out of one of them. We went back to the meeting; the next time we looked, both towers were gone.
ReplyDeleteI worked at the airport at the time for a major airline. It was a scary day that I will never forget. That day changed everything. Nothing was the same again. Everything we did in the days that followed was different and never went back.
ReplyDeleteI was working at a company's helpdesk in a remote location. We were in the middle of a huge PC virus outbreak, getting dozens and dozens of calls an hour when the calls simply stopped. I knew something big had happened but couldn't get out to any of the news websites to find out what it was. I suddenly realized that if it was *that* huge, it might be listed elsewhere. Sure enough, I first read about it on espn.com.
ReplyDeleteIn the days after, when they closed down the airlines, I took my kids outside (we lived on the flightpath to the Cleveland airport) and told them to remember the one time in their lives when there would be no airplanes in the sky (and they do remember it).
The thing I recall most was no contrails in the sky for the next several days. The sky looked like it did when I was a child.