It has been 10 years. As I have watched the endless loops of footage from the 9/11 attacks, a part of me has not wanted to relive the horrific events of that day. The cynical side of me has wanted to dismiss all of the TV coverage as capitalizing on the tragedy. Then I found myself paralyzed as I watched the footage, once again, of people jumping to their deaths from the top floors of the World Trade Center, the emergency responders who ran toward those buildings rather than away – it being the last time they would ever see daylight – hearing the recordings of conversations of doomed flight attendants and heroes from Flight 93, and stories told from survivors of the Pentagon attack that I had never heard before. I came to realize that I have no business being cynical. Thousands have given their lives fighting a war we never wanted to fight. They are still dying.
I went back through this blog and re-read each post from 9/11 I have written since 2006. I still think about Wade Brian Green…and pray for his family. Many are asking “Where were you that day?”…so I am posting a few paragraphs sharing where I was and how I felt as that terrible day unfolded, as well as the amazing monologue by David Letterman from his first night back on television after the attacks.
I hope we never get jaded or cynical about remembering the events of that day…and may we never take for granted the freedom we have. God Bless America.
On the morning of 9/11/01, I will never forget the radio alarm going off, and the dj saying, “Folks, you need to turn on your tv right now and see what is happening at the World Trade Center in NY.” As soon as I turned the tv on, the second plane hit. I woke my husband up and made him sit up and see what was going on. It was obviously an attack. I decided to get my toddler dressed and ready to go to Mothers Day Out at church, just thinking that it was probably something that they might be able to eventually get control of. I thought it didn’t affect me, so life would go on. By the time we left for the church, all radio stations had stopped regular programming and were broadcasting from their sister network newsfeeds (CNN, etc.) . As we were driving, word that the Pentagon had been bombed hit the news. At that point, I was like, “ok, we are at war!”. Our drive was along the landing path for Nashville International Airport. It was an eery feeling watching jets landing 2 by 2 about 1 minute apart. On the radio, it was announced that we were closing down US airspace, and that was why I was seeing this strangeness in the sky. By the time we got to church, people were sitting in the sanctuary, a minister was playing at the piano, and it was clear that were in a major national crisis. Then somebody who had a TV on said there were rumors of a bombing at the state department, the crash in Pennsylvania, and basically that all hell had broken loose on our country. At that point, I decided that I wasn’t leaving Amanda anywhere. We were coming back home so she could be safe with me. Not at a very large and prominent church that could possibly become a target. By the time we got home, one of the towers had fallen. I sat there in disbelief at what I was seeing. Then, I will never forget Peter Jennings asking one of his colleagues if what he was seeing was real…that the second building was falling, too. At first it was thought that up to 50,000 may have died in those buildings; thankfully, it was significantly less, but their value and who they were was no less important. I won’t forget the scrolling at the bottom of the screen of what high rise buildings in Nashville were being evacuated. Wow, that was hitting so close to home. The closing of high rise buildings in cities all over the country was sobering. How many more were out there that could possibly do this?
I will never forget being glued to the TV the rest of that day, night, and the next day. Finding out about the Pentagon, learning of what happened on Flight 93. The search for survivors, and then finally resigning to the fact that anything now would be recovery of bodies…if bodies still existed. The makeshift boards on which family members & friends posted missing persons flyers on the slim chance that their loved one had possibly survived and made it to a hospital somehow or were even roaming the streets with amnesia.
And now, here’s Dave to sum it up…
Never forget.
Filed under: Cultural Matters, Current Events, Things That Inspire Me, Tragedy Tagged: | 10th Anniversary of 9/11, 9/11, cynicism, David Letterman, Flight 93, Pentagon, Tenth Anniversary of 9/11, TV, Wade Brian Green, World Trade Center, WTC
