Remembering 9/11

My daughter was a flight attendant for American Airlines at that time. She often flew out of Boston. I was on the road at the time listening to the reports on the radio. When I eventually learned that two of the four aircraft were American Airlines I began to experience such an indescribable dread and anxiety. I didn't have a cell phone back then so I went to a pay phone and tried to call her. She didn't answer. I left her a message to please let me know asap if she's ok.
When I got home, four hours later, there was no message on my answering machine. Then I began to worry even more. After about another hour I received a call from her. She told me that she had worked flight 11 only two weeks before. It was the best phone call I ever got!!

Markku wrote, "Let's all remember those people today, and give our prayers to everyone affected."
I agree. After all, it wasn't just an American event. Over 300 foreign nationals were also murdered that day. Let's remember them and their families as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_September_11_attacks#Foreign_casualties

 

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
We will never forget!

 

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those personally impacted and affected by 9-11 and prayers and thoughts for our nation today. We will not forget.

 

Thank you @Markku for remembering this day. I have actually been working with young adults who lost a loved one (most often their father or mother), in 9/11 for about 7 years. I work with an organization called Tuesday's Children (9/11/01 was a Tuesday).

We also do a program called Project Common Bond, which brings together young adults (14 - 20) from all over the world (Liberia, N. Ireland, Israel, Palestine, Argentina, France, England, Sri Lanka, India, Kenya, Spain - just to name a few) who have lost a loved one to an act of terror or war. They all come together to try and build peace and meaning out of something unimaginably tragic.

Anyway, if anyone is looking for a project to support, I would humbly recommend Project Common Bond.

Here is their website, they are an amazing group of young people

http://www.tuesdayschildren.org/programs/project-common-bond/about-the-program/#.VBG4gRYVEoc

 

I was in 7th grade and from my school i could always see the sky line in the city. I lived in north jersey at the time. It was an indescribable feeling seeing smoke, and towers gone that afternoon.

 

I was 23 years old at the time. I had just come home from studies, turned on the TV to catch the latest news, and there it was: live reporting from a TV camera pointed at the tower which was first hit (with live commentary). It looked unusual, but no alarm bells were ringing at that point... right until a few minutes later when I watched the following airplane hit the 2nd tower... live. That's when the CNN reporter said: "This is no accident". Live.

Here is a worthwhile flashback twitter-essay documenting how it unfolded when viewed from the inner circle of the President.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/11/politics/fleischer-bush-911-storify/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

 

I was in 5th grade when this happened... Everyone was getting pulled out of school cause of it.. Came home saw the crash video and smoke ugh met some people over the years that had relatives that died in the towers. RIP.

 

I was at work, in a hospital, staring at one TV after the other as I slowly completed my work, moving from one ward to the next. As I recall, I was a bit in denial, unwilling to accept what it was I was witnessing.

The final crash seemed to be felt around the world. How my heart ached for the families with loved ones inside and near the buildings. Not knowing how many people worked in those two buildings, I was shocked to hear the murdered totaled about the size of the entire staff of the hospital where I work.

From my reading of WWII books, I knew of kamikaze pilots, but these two planes were today, not in some history book, and not with only one person aboard the planes. It was totally unimaginable what took place.

That event is proof we ought to apply our hearts to wisdom, to set our affections on things above, not on this earth, for in a breath we can surely be taken away.

 

I worked in NY at that time and could actually see the Towers if I walked to the end of my block. I lived in a place called City Island, about 9 miles northeast of Manhattan. I was off that day and would have usually been in the city. Lucky me! I had a few accounts and friends who worked in the Towers and fortunately they all got out in time or weren't at work that day.

A few weeks had past before we could get back into the city and gain access to lower Manhattan. It took hours to get past checkpoints before being able to drive into the city. We were involved in a project just a few blocks away from the devastation. Actually 1 Centre street, an office building with mostly city run businesses. I remember the awful smell of burning debris and the white powder still all around on the sidewalks and buildings. Like a dusting of snow.

My business is electronic security and the phones were ringing off the hook for additional security coverage. CCTV and Access control
was the thrust of my business. Needless to say, we were very busy for years after. Opportunity in the wake of tragedy.

However, we New Yorkers banded
Together and realized life must go on. After a while, the grieving past and the pain subsided.

I still recall the many times I was having coffee in the lower arcade there, awaiting one of my friends to come down from her office to have breakfast. luckily, the morning of the attacks, she decided to work at home. One of the lucky ones indeed!

 

Remembering that day (once more)....

 

Being a journalist, I had television news on at home as I finished getting ready for work. When the breaking news flashed about a Manhattan airplane hitting the Twin Towers, I thought: Hurry up! It's gonna be a busy day. I assumed it was some small plane crash, an accident. I was in the car and on my way when a close friend. She was screaming. I finally was able to make out what she was saying: her favorite niece worked in the Twin Towers. There was smoke everywhere, she told me, and the buildings were on fire.

When I got into the newsroom, it was chaos. We had television screens on everywhere and as we watched, the second plane plowed into the tower. My friend kept calling me, desperate for any new details, a survivor list, anything. And as I kept watching, over and over, the footage of the plane, the impact, the smoke, the building imploding and sinking to its knees, I thought: nobody survived this. I wondered when and how my friend would find out her niece was dead.

She called me about 2 pm. Her niece was alive.

The niece had had a fight with her boyfriend that morning. So she was running late on her way downtown to her office. She exited the subway station literally after the plane had hit, coming up into a hell of noise and falling glass and people screaming. So she just started running. She ran as fast as she could uptown, not thinking about anything but getting away from whatever terrible thing had just happened. It was hours before she discovered it was an attack, was able to get somewhere far enough away and borrow a cell phone and call her family.

A year later, the niece married the boyfriend. They still live in Manhattan.

When I think of 9-11, I remember this amazing arc: Routine, shock, denial, horror, hope, despair -- and resurrection. An arc that can span a lifetime. Or only six hours.

I light a candle today for all who lost their lives, and for those who live on and keep them in their memory.