Remembering 9-11
Posted by Dr. RusSep 11
Remembering September 11, 2001
Where were you when the planes hit the Twin Towers in New York City?
It’s hard to believe 7 years have past since the terrorist attacks took place on U.S. soil. Seven years ago the United States of America was attacked by terrorists. Two hijacked commercial planes rammed into New York City’s World Trade Center, which eventually caused the collapse of both towers. Another hijacked plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and a fourth plane crashed into the Pennsylvania woods. There are many memorials around the country today, and of course major memorials taking place at the Pentagon, the site of the Twin Towers, and in Pennsylvania.
Do you remember what you were doing on this date in 2001?
I remember clearly what I was doing just like it was yesterday. I was sitting in a restaurant having breakfast with someone. At that point in time I had one of those little pocket email pagers. As we ate our bacon and eggs and quietly sipped our coffee, my pager suddenly started going crazy. Message after message came pouring into my mobile email pager. I remember reading one of the Breaking News messages and said to the person I was having breakfast with – A plane just flew into one of the Twin Towers. – We looked at one another and it was almost like it was all surreal. He said, “It must be a terrorist attack.” But those words didn’t really sink in. We went on eating and chatting about the mundane for about another 10 minutes before the reality of the situation really hit home.
Of course 7 years later many are still trying to make this day of remembrance all about politics. I for one get very tired of this line of thinking. I know people who are to this day affected by those attacks in New York City. Instead of crying foul, lets simply remember those who still carry the scars of that fateful bright sunny September day 7 years ago.
Why not take a few minutes now and remember this 9-11 day by leaving a comment below.
A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus
3 comments
Comment by Roman on September 11, 2008 at 8:56 am
On that day I was with the American tourists from Philly that looked for their Jewish roots in Western Ukraine. I Remember we left the van to visit bathrooms at roadside cafe.
I was idly looking at TV waiting for the ladies…then the picture changed from local language into English one. It showed the first tower being hit. When i pointed to the screen the ladies could not believe in what they saw, they asked what movie was that…
Oddly but people inside cafe just noted that America is burning and continued to drink booze as if it was a movie. Callous, ha?
Comment by Brian Neudorff on September 11, 2008 at 10:17 am
I was in Bismarck, North Dakota starting my new job in television. It was a Tuesday, my day off. I was a sleep when my wife Trisha called me asking me about my Dad and where he was, where his office was, if he was working? Not really sure why she was asking, I asked her why and she told me that a plane had hit the towers. At that point I went to turn on the TV to watch and I just turned it on after the second plane had hit.
To have a relative work in NYC that day was scary. Also I knew my dad was scheduled to fly on a trip that day out of New York. I immediately went to look at their itinerary and got good news that the tips wasn’t until later that evening, but still didn’t know where my dad was.
From that point on for probably a good portion of the morning into the midday I was watching the coverage and my focus was to reach my Dad. I had a very hard time reaching him. The lines in NYC were busy cell phone towers we maxed out. I even heard a message when I called once that roughly said, “Due to the tornado in the area all circuits are busy.” or something like that. It took me forever to reach my dad but I was able to reach my grandmother who had heard from him and was able to tell me he was ok and he did do some work but his office was several blocks away.
Another scary tid bit of information I received was that on occasion my dad did do business in the WTC, and it is very possible he could have that day.
It just makes you think, and one of the most searing memories I have was later that night. I didn’t have the family support system in Bismarck yet. Trisha and our Twins were still in Indiana. I was alone I wasn’t needed at work so I went to a TGI Fridays with our weekend sports guy and there was NO ONE there. Just him another guy at the end of the bar and the two of us just escaping our apartments so we could spend time with a friend.
Comment by Gary Baumgarten on September 11, 2008 at 10:45 am
I was home when I got the call from CNN Radio in Atlanta that the first plane had hit the tower, directing me to respond to report on it.
By the time I got to Liberty State Park in New Jersey directly across the Hudson River from the Twin Towers, the second tower to be hit had already collapsed. I was live on the air describing the horrific event when the first tower hit then went down.
I really thought that 10s of thousands were dead. It’s a bit of a miracle that so many people got out alive.
Sadly, as civilians were rushing away from the danger, firefighters, cops, paramedics were rushing into the gates of Hell.
Our thoughts and prayers are with all who died and with their families today. Seven years does little to ease the pain.