"Where were you when it happened?"
I remember asking my mom and dad that question about President Kennedy's assassination. It was a major news event that we learned about in school. Of course, it happened a few years before I was born, so I didn't have the personal experience of having gone through it. But my parents did. It was a horrific event, they said. One that shocked a nation. One that brought a nation together in tears. My mom had been shopping with her grandmother. She heard the news on the car radio and started to cry. She said it was a memory that never left you.
Isn't that what happened to our nation 5 years ago today? An awful moment in our nation's history, but one that brought everyone together in tears...and in camaraderie. Sometimes, sadly, it takes a tragedy to bring people together.
We visited New York City yesterday. I told Stuart I found it ironic that we'd be going there on the anniversary weekend. I hadn't been back to visit the city since December 2000 when we stood across the river from the New York skyline and pointed to the Twin Towers. We told Emily, then 3, that we'd be back next Christmas with her new sibling. And we'd go visit those Twin Towers together. "Bye-Bye, Twin Towers. See you next year," she said.
Of course, the rest is now recorded in the history books.
We didn't get to visit those towers the following year. But we did watch as they crumbled to the ground, deliberately destroyed by terrorists using planes as missiles. We did cry with others at the thought of all those innocent people killed for an evil "cause." We did hang our flag with a renewed sense of patriotism that said, "United we stand!!"
I was in my livingroom, listening to the radio. I heard about the first plane and turned on the television. I called Stuart to let him know that somebody had accidentally flown into one of the Twin Towers. Midway through my message, I went completely silent and began to babble as I witnessed the second plane flying into the other tower. It was a slow-motion movie in my mind. A joke...definitely not a reality. I sank to my knees and realized that it wasn't an accident; nor were the rest of the terrible events that continued throughout the morning.
3-year-old Emily's drawing of the World Trade Center
The memory burns bright in our hearts for all those affected by the happenings on that day. You're still in our prayers!
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Where were you when it happened?
2 comments:
a little late, but I'd like to comment on this anyway if that's ok :o)
Where was I when the events of 9/11 unfolded...?
I actually had the day off work because I had a hospital appt (for something minor). My mom was with me at the time. After I finished at the hosp she I went into the town centre where I live. I remember very clearly that I was walking through the TV department of one of the department stores and this crowd of people were gathered around the bank of screens. I stopped to look and as soon as I understood what seemed to be happening I grabbed my mother and we raced home to mine (I live 10 mins from town).
We both spent the rest of that afternoon watching the events unfold at my house.
At the time many of my colleagues worked at our NY office (I was their direct primary British POC). Our NY office was actually up in the mid-town. But still. I'd phoned my colleagues in London to establish if the NY guys had all been accounted for. Thankfully they had been.
I remember spending the rest of the afternoon utterly distraught.
The following January I was in NY for a short break (6 days on my own in NY, very cathartic. And you're never really on your own are you?)
I visited Ground Zero one morning. It was the only morning when the weather wasn't beautiful (as it had been the other days). It was raining. But somehow that seemed appropriate.
Even now, when I try to explain to anyone the general feeling at GZ that morning I struggle with the right words.
I actually couldn't stay too long, I paid my respect as much as I could. And then left. I found the whole experience... overwhelming.
Even now, 5 years later, I struggle with my emotions about the whole event. As much as I didn't loose anyone in the tragedy, I believe that anyone with and an ounce of humanity will always be affected.
Here in the UK in the run up to 9/11 this year, they showed a series of documentaries about certain aspects of the day. One in particular made me cry my eyes out.
Harrowing, utterly harrowing. But the courage and determination of many of the people directly affected just goes to show how incredible many people really are.
x
Such a horrific time, huh, Caroline? I'm so glad your colleagues were okay. How frightening that must have been!!!
I found myself glued to the TV for a long time afterwards...like I couldn't miss a single minute in case something else happened. It was crippling for awhile. It felt frightening to go back to normalcy. Yet, we all did, right? I'm always reminded of a Robert Frost poem called "Out! Out!" Something tragic happens, yet the world moves on.
I felt the same way after the Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, though I couldn't tune in the same way. I think I was still emotionally "spent" after 9/11. Plus, those were caused by acts of nature...not by terrorists.
And to go to Ground Zero...Wow!! I admire you. I still can't bring myself to go there. My hubby's been past it. He said it's haunting.
It's hard not to be affected since we're all a part of each other, right? Like "No man is an island..."
I bought a documentary movie about Flight 93 called The Flight That Fought Back, and I still can't bring myself to watch it. But I feel I should, because I don't ever want to forget those people and their courage.
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