I?ve went back and forth all day, deciding whether or not I should write a 9/11 post. Last month, I started to see a ton of news coverage about the 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001, and I didn?t want to add one more blog post about that terrible day in American history. Then I remembered my own advice about blogging?write for yourself, and no one else. So here I am.
September 11th is a bittersweet day for me, since?it is my youngest?s birthday.?But,?10 years ago, I didn?t know him or his father, and it was a day that terrorized me, even though I was living in Michigan,?far away from New York, Washington D.C. and Pennsylvania. I had just started a new job as a civil servant, and was already on break watching tv when I saw the second plane fly into the Twin Towers. I knew?America was under attack?and I was?basically wigging?out (on the inside, since I was the new girl at work), because I didn?t know where these terrorists?were going to strike next. I had a friend in the military, who?was working as an air?traffic controller in Puerto Rico, and I managed to get ahold of him?by lunchtime. We couldn?t believe what had?happened, and both of us?had been watching the television coverage all morning. I?ve never been more frightened of the unknown?in all my life.
I watched?coverage of the attacks and the aftermath once I got home from work until?2?a.m. that night. I finally had to turn it off after watching hundreds of people leap to their deaths, like this guy. I?m still haunted by those images.
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I still can?t imagine what life was like that day for all those people who died during the attacks, or the ones who were lucky enough to survive, or the ones who lost loved ones, or who rushed into burning buildings to save others, or who died during the act of trying to save others, or who even?saw body parts, if not entire bodies, laying all over the streets.?I have the chills just writing this sentence, thinking about the horror?they went through. I knew 2 men (from high school) who?made it out of the towers alive. My mother?s good friend lost her daughter that day, as she was in New York at a job interview at the World Trade Center. I listened to the survival tale of my friend?s little brother?s best friend, who had been working as a stock broker in the twin towers, who was evacuated,?then?told to go back to work or get docked pay, who went back up, then decided?he was going to leave, and who?made it out of there in time, just seconds before his tower collapsed. He changed his entire life?his career, his weight, his passions.
For the past 10 years, I?ve watched our country try to recover from this attack, taking away certain rights that I didn?t always agree with, making some changes for the better, some for the worst, and I?ve watched Americans fight 2 wars that have killed, injured and terrorized so many people. I?ve seen and heard amazing survivor and hero stories that still blow me away and make me cry to this day. I am still blown away by?all of the hard, life changing and terrorizing?work those fire fighters, police officers and other first responders went through while just doing their normal job?that day. I?ve read several great books on September 11th, one being 102 Minutes: The Unforgettable Story of the Fight to Survive Inside the Twin Towers?by Jim Dyer. Read it if you haven?t already! I?ve watched countless television specials,?documentaries and movies about what?happened on September 11, 2001. I just can?t forget what happened.
In fact, I argued?with my husband last night while we were watching?our DVD of?Flight 93, and what the airlines and the F.A.A. did wrong. I?m certainly not blaming the flight crews for anything?that happened, as I can?t imagine?what it would be like to have?a knife to my throat (Well, I?ve been stabbed by my mother, so I sort of know what that fear is like), or seeing a bomb strapped to someone hijacking a plane I?m supposed to be controlling.?As a former flight attendant, I?still remember the training I had in 1998, which includes landing a plane, defusing a bomb, and dealing with terrorists.?I?m just so pissed that so many things went wrong that day, particularly air traffic wise, from Bush failing to act fast enough, or the lack of warning to all pilots in the skies that day,?the weak cockpit doors,?or the weapons that were carried legally onto planes, and for a disaster plan?on that scale?either not planned or executed the way it should have been. Thankfully, there were some great air heroes?that day, from the?man who stopped all?flights coming into and out of?the U.S., to the passengers?and crew who were able to fight back, and the countless others I don?t know about.
I flew?to New York during Memorial Day weekend in?2002. It was the earliest I could get away from work, and I want to see Ground Zero more than anything in this world. I needed to see with my own eyes what had happened, so I could try to imagine what everyone experienced that day. I?visited?the site on Memorial Day, and?spent 4 hours in the pouring rain, soaked to the bone, and taking turns smiling and hysterically crying, while I was looking at all the letters, photographs, banners, signs and even?buildings paying tribute to loved ones and heroes at?Ground Zero.
When I saw the gap where the twin towers once stood, I?was overwhelmed. I had visited the World Trade Center a few years prior, and something that large, that iconic, was actually missing??I have a picture of the towers that I took back in 1996, and that picture is still looked at by my and my husband every single day, as it hangs on the wall just behind my tv. We are forver changed by that day, as I?m sure you are.
Seeing all of the flowers, flags and dog tags left for?the heroes?of 9/11 was ? indescribable.
I do want the war?to be over ? don?t you? Tell me, were you?in New York or Washington D.C.?that day? Did you survive this event, see it with your own eyes, loose a loved one, save someone, or?even just experience the terror and fear like I did by watching the news coverage? Tell me your story, because all stories about this tragic day in history should be heard, and of course, never forgotten.
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Source: http://thegirlfromtheghetto.wordpress.com/2011/09/11/remembering-911/
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