9-11 – Honoring the past. Where were you 13 years ago?
I think that for most of us we can all remember the moments that surrounded the 9/11 tragedy that struck our nation 13 years ago.
I remember where I was… I was in the my office at the university that I was working at as a Student Affairs Professional. I believe it was J-Mom who called me and told me to turn on the radio because it looked like a plane had collided with one of the twin towers. Unbeknownst to us was all the malice that was behind the first attack, let alone the subsequent attacks within New York City as well as the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.
I remember hearing this and calling my colleagues to fins a television that we could turn on and we watched in our main office as the tragedy revealed itself. I was numb, dumbstruck. Only once before had I felt this way, and that was when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. I simply had never witnessed such hatred, such a loss of life and later that week we found out how close to home this hit our family.
The Saturday before 9/11 J-Mom and I celebrated the wedding of a high school friend of J-Mom. The wedding was a wonderful event full of love and laughter. At that event I was able to meet a friend of the bride named Kelly Ann Booms who sat in front of us during the wedding. She made a comment that she had to get back to Boston on Sunday because she had a business trip that she had to fly out for (to Los Angeles) early on Tuesday morning (9/11). Later that week we found out that Kelly was a passenger on the first plane that hit Tower 1 (Flight 11). We were shocked that someone we just spoke with could be gone in an instant and it brought the national tragedy to a whole new level of meaning. We now felt a part of this tragedy and not as far removed.
The images of the first few hours of 9-11, the first few days afterward still are burned into my memory and I think they will never leave. For my generation, I think that this even will be the event that truly defines our generation as it may have been Pearl Harbor for my grandparents of the JFK assassination of JFK for my own parents.
So today, 12 years later I take a moment to remember Kelly and the other victims of the 9/11 attacks. May we never again live through such an event.
When my daughters get old enough to understand the significance of this day I will help them understand, but it will not be easy for the to grasp the severity of the events and what it did to the American Spirit that followed. I can only hope that I will be ready for this discussion when the time comes.
So my question for the day?
- What are your memories of this event in our collective history?
- How will you tell your children about this event in the future?
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We definitely have a 21st century JFK moment now. For me that day was marked not just by the horrible events that took place but also by the joyous birth of our second child. Talk about mixed feelings. So much so, I posted this on my blog: http://dadinthecloud.com/blog/2011/9/11/becoming-a-dad-on-911.html
Talk about mixed emotions, I can hear you there. Thanks for sharing and I am heading off to your site right now!
Such a horrible act of hate that was performed that day. I remember I was a sophomore in high school and my principal announced it over the intercom to turn the tv on to the whole school. We didn’t know what was going on. We were watching the first tower and just thought it was an accident and we thought how awful it was. Then we’re watching when the second plane comes in and hits the second tower. Everyone was so quite, and tears began to flow especially from my teacher. It was a state of shock for everyone. We watched the rest of the day. All the horrific nightmares that soon became reality unfolding right on live television. All these hijacked planes crashing really felt like I was dreaming a bad nightmare. I just felt hopeless for everyone that was there and just felt their pain coming through the television. It’s definitely a feeling that you’ll never forget and so hard to explain. The next day my mother died of cervical cancer she had fought for 16 years that I knew nothing about. It was as if the U.S. was crying with me. I felt the pain of losing a loved one so close and knew exactly how the 9/11 family members felt in a different kind of way. I cried forever for all the ones thar were lost that day and my mother that I lost the day after. I remember telling my mom about it and asked her if she seen it. She said, “Yeah that’s so awful” in a soft voice. I didn’t know what was to really come the next day for her. They will never be forgotten as well as my mother will never be. God must have needed an Army of angels those days!! I don’t know how I will tell my little girl about this when she gets older. I know I will say, “Heroes” probably 20 times when I do.
R.I.P. 9/11 Sweet Angels & 9/12 Sweet Angel
I am so sorry about the loss of your mother, especially at such a young age. I can see how 9/11 and now today (9/12) are very poignant to you and I truly appreciate you sharing your story with me and my readers!
Honoring this day is something we should all be doing.
I remember it well. My husband was at work, my son was at daycare, I was watching the Today Show while getting ready for work. I called my husband about it. He left work, got our son, & came home. But I still had to go to work. I was hoping they would find more people alive.
I have tried to tell my children about it. My youngest is interested in learning more. So I found some photos of the towers to show her.
I am sorry that you have a personal connection. I think it is helpful to remember her.
Well, I typed a lovely comment and then I got an error message, so I will try to rephrase it.
I was on my way to college and was listening to the radio, when I first heard about the attacks. I remember thinking it was a joke at first, but then I realized how serious it really was. The first plane had just hit at that point. I grabbed my walkman so I could continue listening to the radio as I walked to class and it just felt surreal, like it didn’t feel like this was something that could really be happening. As soon as I got into the building I knew it was true. I could see from the looks on people’s faces and the tension in the air that this was so much bigger than I could even imagine.
What will stay with me the most is how the country came together following the attacks. I don’t know how you explain that to someone who didn’t experience it. I have never felt so much patriotism or camaraderie with strangers as I did during the six months to a year following 9/11. It was really beautiful how the entire country stood together as one and I will never forget it.
I was at work and will never forget and have shared this with my children and grandchildren at the moment and now years later telling them that there are many individuals that do not care how they hurt others to carry out in their minds what is their “duty”
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