i wrote this last year but for some reason didn't post it....so i'm posting it today.
what were you doing that day?
******
Dave was at work; I didn't have class until 1:00 pm so I slept in and turned on the TV just after the first tower fell. I wasn't sure what was going on, and nobody else was either. (Last year on this day MSNBC was replaying the Today show from that morning. People thought it was an accident for a while, then the second plane hit and they knew it wasn't an accident but they still weren't sure what was happening. Then Jim Miklaszewski, an NBC reporter, was inside the Pentagon when the third plane hit, although he didn't know it was a plane and wasn't evacuated). Back to 2001. I remember feeling a little confused and mostly scared, and really nervous when they said another plane had been hijacked and they didn't know any further details. Rewatching it last year made me realize that everybody was nervous and unsure--Matt Lauer, Katie Couric, and Tom Brokaw included. I went to Wal-Mart to grocery shop and they even had it on the TVs there, and that's when it hit me that something really big happened (I know, lame that I didn't realize it before, but I seriously didn't). I called Dave at work and we talked for a few minutes; Sara called me and we talked for a few minutes; Dad was at the Labs and I worried they might be a target (irrational, I know, but none of us had any idea how many more planes and targets there were out there!) but he wasn't sent home with the "non-essential" personnel so I couldn't talk to him...I talked to Mom for a little while...it was a very scary morning. On the news they showed people jumping out the windows. We visited the World Trade Center in 1991 and all I could think about as I saw people jumping was how high up those towers were, and how awful it must be inside there if they're jumping out from that high up. Those people must have been terrified. I was looking at this photo essay on Time's website and it showed some of the survivors down on the ground covered in dust after the towers fell...how terrifying it must have been for them, too. The news said upwards of 50,000 people worked in those two buildings and had no idea what the death toll would be. I went to my Political Philosophy class that afternoon. Class had been canceled but most of us wanted to be there anyway, so our teacher (Matt Holland, Elder H.'s son) just led a discussion about what it might all mean for the future. He was mostly right. War; uncertainty; increased security; fear...all those things we all felt that day. People were crowded around the TVs in the BYU bookstore all day, trying to learn something new, but nobody knew anything for what seemed like a long time.
I cried for the children whose parents would never come home. I cried for the husbands who lost their wives; and the wives who lost their husbands; I cried for the firefighters and policemen.
I will never forget.
******
so, what were you doing that morning?
11 September 2008
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15 comments:
I wrote about in our blog. I was watching the Today show! My heart still hurts for all those people who died and more importantly those who didn't and those left behind. Sad...beyond sad but I don't know what word fits either
I was having an argument with a guy I was dating and someone knocked on his apartment door and told us to turn on the tv. We turned it on and it was just minutes after the first plane had hit. We thought it was a terrible accident and we sat there in shocked silence.
Then we watched as the second plane hit and at that moment I started to cry because I knew it could not be an accident. My BYU classes were cancelled and we went to the special devotional instead.
I felt the way people say they felt when Kennedy was shot. That our collective innocence was lost and America would never be the same. The worst part for me was seeing business men jump from the windows. Thinking of their despair was more than I could handle.
Wow-I Just got done writing about this in my blog. One thing I did was go buy red, white, and blue ribbon, and tied on my anttena on my car.
I had slept in as well or I just had worked out. I can't remember exactly. All I know is that we were glued to our tv for a long time and I had this sick, deep pit in my stomach. I couldn't comprehend what was happening. My mom and I went to New York City two months later and saw ground zero. They were working around the clock to clean things up. I remember walking through some tunnels and saw hundreds of letters and pictures from little kids, parents, brothers/sisters, etc asking if they have seen that person. Or things like "I miss you dad" Gosh...it was so sad!
Ironic, I just posted about sort of the same thing! I sat on my in-law's couch and stayed glued to the tv for most of the day... I just couldn't stop watching it. I was very sad, and touched. Moments like the senators on the Hill just spontaneously singing America the beautiful. Nervous too. Mostly though I felt safe. I knew everything was changed, but I also knew that somehow the greatness of America was only starting to shine through. This Nation isn't perfect, we have our share of problems at all levels, but its people are great. Americans are loving, compassionate, proud and STRONG. It showed that day. Through all the fears, through all the tears, those qualities were shining through every smile, wave, tear, bob of the head... I think it is the day I realized I felt like an american not just someone who lived in America...
I was particularly worried about the plane that was eventually brought down in Pennsylvania - at one point it was flying over Toledo (near my parents house). When I heard that the people on board were able bring the plane down I was so proud of them, and kind of happy for them too. It must have been better for them to have acted, than to just have waited for their end.
I was at work. I remember watching as much as I could over the internet. I was self employed so I could watch as much as I wanted but I remember it was hard to watch much because everyone was trying to watch the same thing on the internet. So scary.
I was 8 months pregant with my first baby. It was scary thinking of the world I was bringing him into.
I am glad you posted this, I was totally going to post it myself. It is such a major event for our generation.
I was teaching preschool. Trying not to freak out and therefore freak out a whole bunch of 3 and 4 year olds. THe moms and I would talk in code about what was happening.
After work I came home and watched TV for the rest of the day.
I was down at Dixie in St. George living in an apartment full of girls. None of us went to class. We all stayed home in our pjs and watched the news for the entire day. I remember feeling very anxious because I knew my dad was on a plane headed for Sunnyvale, Cali. He finally called from the plane. They were circling in the sky above Cali for 4 hours before being allowed to land. They were one of only a handful of flights allowed to make their destination (most other flights were forced to turn around and go back to where they originated).I will never forget that morning. Sadness, anger, fear, relief... all within 4 hours. I still get goosebumps.
Thanks for the post. I was in Tarija, Bolivia. On my mission. It was so weird when I saw it on the TV of a little store. I feel a little disconnected from it, because I wasn't in the country at the time it happened, and didn't get to think about it a lot or watch it.
it is still too difficult for me to watch the videos. the images are haunting.
i remember ammon and had slept in. we began rushing around the apartment to get ready and i turned on the radio. the announcer said something about an attack of "catastrophic proportions" and i immediately ran to the living room to turn on the tv (my pat. blessing says that i will witness catastrophic occurrences that will usher in the millennium so when i hear that word, i take it seriously.) i'll never forget sitting in shock all day long wondering what would happen. crying for the lives lost and for the loss of security and safety i so naively took for granted.
Obviously, you know my story cause I posted it this morning. But one thing I remember in the aftermath was how proud I was to be an American. I remember driving up to Salt Lake from Provo one day, and every electronic sign I passed just had the words "God Bless America" on it. Every single one. That terrible day really brought out the best of America, if only for a while.
Its weird to think it was 7 years ago.
i turned on the tv before heading to school, which i never do, and yelled, "holly, they're gone, the towers are gone." I had turned it on minutes after the second tower fell and we watched for about 30 minutes before heading to school. i will never forget.
-james
I should have done something like this on my blog, but honestly I think I am STILL traumatized from it. WE sat up last night and watched a documentary on the History Channel about it..it was powerful and brought everything rushing back..it followed the chatter on the 2 way radios of the firemen in the towers and then you hear all sorts of noise adn then silence..it was eerie.
Seven years ago, I was a new bride..my grandma was dying of cancer and I was in the newsroom that morning getting ready to produce our morning show. I watched everything from start to finish and since I was gathering the news and getting stories of students reactions I didn't have a chance to take it in myself. I remember being with a girl and watching people jumping and she started crying and I still sat there watching it in horror and not knowing what to do. I called 'R' to make sure he was ok..like he wasn't? I followed it all day and when night came I finally broke down and bawled on the couch and told 'R' to turn the tv off. We went for a drive up Provo Canyon and I still couldn't escape it there. I felt so vulnrable and scared and sad.
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