Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Where Were You?


Photo (c) Thomas E. Franklin - The Record


On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was driving to a doctor's appointment.  I turned on the radio to hear the DJs talking about "the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history."  Assuming they were rehashing Oklahoma City, I switched to a music CD.

I arrived at the lobby of the doctor's office to find everyone riveted to the TV. All I could see on the television screen was gray smoke.  I asked what it was, and someone said the World Trade Center.  I said, "really? I can't see the towers."  They replied:  "they're gone."  I couldn't even conceive of what they were talking about.  Gone?  Gone where?  It made no sense.

It still doesn't.

Where were you when it happened?


10 comments:

  1. Let me see...

    I was home getting ready to go to an appointment in the city. My television was on and I knew that it was the news, but for some reason I wasn't computing what was on the screen, I just kept getting dressed. I wasn't reading the screen or putting two and two together. I saw a plane crashing into a building, they kept showing it over and over again, but again I wasn't putting two and two together and I didn't realize it was the World Trade Center that was hit, I thought a plane just crashed and people were hurt and of course killed. It was a plane crash, how could no one be killed?

    I didn't realize how bad, how horrible it was going to be, till I heard my mother screaming my name.

    I scrambled down the stairs. She was at the bottom, clutching her chest. She looked angry, but I realize now that, that was fear. She thought I was gone, that I was already in the city. You see the place I was going to was mere steps from the entrance of the towers.

    I had an appointment with a lawyer and I was procrastinating, by all accounts I should have already been there in the thick of it. But I wasn't and I'm glad.

    So now sometimes for no reason... I'm late just cause, makes me feel better. Lets me know sometimes it's okay to be late.

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    1. I'm relieved you were running late that morning. I wonder how many close calls like that we have and never know about?

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  2. I was at work at the time. Here in the UK we are 5 hours in front and I'd just come back from the bank to the office. I was chatting to the Finance Director about the overdue accounts and his wife called him to tell him the shocking news. By that time both planes had already hit.

    We didn't have a TV up in the accounts office so we all headed down to the factory floor to watch the terrible scenes unfold. Not one person spoke - all you could hear were shocked and upset gasps.

    I don't think I'll ever forget those feelings I felt that day and those scenes still chill me to the bone.

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    1. I feel the same way. Even all these years later, it's still surreal to me.

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  3. I was at work listening to Five Live on the radio and it came across that a plane had hit one of the Towers. I mentioned it on the team, then I suddenly heard the dj say 'Oh my God' as he watched the 2nd plane go into the Second Tower. We knew then it was a terrorist attack. No work got done that afternoon.

    Our next door neighbours were due to fly to Floirda the next day, that holiday was cancelled.

    As I watched the events on the tv later at home, it was just surreal, like watching a movie but knowing ..that NO this was real life, real people, real loss of lives. I think I will always remember where I was. My friend Dawn said to us all, I have a photo of me lying between the Twin Towers when I visited NYC. I watch a lot of conspiracy theories about this day on YT. It fascinates me I am not ashamed to say. RIP 9/11 victims.

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    1. It seems work stopped for many on that day. I actually had to go to work in the afternoon, and was surprised we were even opening. We had all of six customers.

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  4. I was at home for the afternoon. I think I'd just cleaned out the hamsters and was drinking coffee and watching some afternoon crap on TV when they interrupted to show what was happening. The first plane had hit and they kept showing it on a loop, talking about a terrible accident. The second hit came through live and it was like, MY GOD - what the hell is happening? Suddenly, the accident scenario no longer fit.

    I remember having to tear myself away to go and pick my boys up from school, totally shocked that the world had just changed. And that's not me being all melodramatic and shit, you know? I was sitting thousands of miles away, watching from the comfort of my own home, and knowing that things would never be exactly the same again.

    When I got to school, most people were talking about it, but it wasn't sensationalist gossip like you expect when something momentous happens. There was just a shock and a quiet in everyone's voices, as if nobody could believe what they'd seen. We may have been many miles away, but I think that day - possibly like no other in recent history - the world stopped and shifted on its axis for just a fraction of a second, bringing its peoples together in shared outrage and grief.

    We should never forget that real evil exists in our world - but so does love and compassion and empathy and strength and the will to survive. Those are the things I thought of when I visited the WTC a few years ago and stood looking at what was left behind; when I read those names and listened to the voices. Let's not ever forget.

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    1. Amazing words and important sentiments; thank you for sharing them. And it's interesting how clearly we remember the little details of our own lives that day -- right down to the hamsters, in your case. I guess the circumstances surrounding something like this, like the event itself, don't fade from our memories.

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  5. I was sitting on the couch feeding my 3wk old son "Christian" but did not have the TV on that morning. My husband called and told me to turn on the TV. I just sat there watching but not feeling anything at all, as I was just watching a movie not reality. A couple hours later after watching this tragedy I remember feeling so empty, shocked,sad and frightened. This day is still a very clear memory and I still pray for the families who lost loved ones. And for our troops that have been lost and still fighting for us!

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    1. Thanks for sharing your story - and for the reminder to keep the men and women who risk their lives to protect us in our thoughts.

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