In Rememberance
by Elena @ 11/09/2008 04:04 am
It's hard to believe that 7 years ago, the world changed forever. Terrorism wasn't anything new, but it became very real for many of us. I can still remember watching things unfold on the news, yelling at the TV set, tapping on the screen, telling people to 'run'! It was devastating to watch and I simply can't imagine what it was like to actually be there at the time or go through the aftermath. Many people lost their lives that day. From those who were just starting their day, to the brave police and firefighters who entered the buildings that day to evacuate.
Here at Gluttony, we remember those who died and hope that the family and friends of those lost are still finding a way to recover. But most of all, my thoughts go out to the people and the city of New York. The bravery and courage to come out of all of this is inspiring. While some of us sit in our corner of the world, untouched by terrorism, you all bravely faced the reality of it, the loss and sadness, the anger and frustrations and everything else that goes along with it.
But what some of us will never know is the strength you all gave in re-building, moving over that day and not letting terrorism win. If I had half of that strength and courage, I think I'd be a better person. Today we remember you, the city, the brave, the loss, and the strength and courage that came out of that fateful day.
9/11/01 was a picture perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky, it was one of those rare late summer days where it was going to be warm with little humidity and you just woke up wanting to be outside to enjoy it. Then, as I was making my morning tea and preparing to get my now 8 year old daughter out of her crib to start the day, I turned on the tv to watch Regis & Kelly, and they were covering breaking news about a plane crashing into the World Trade Center. At that point everyone thought it had been a small commuter plane that had accidentally crashed. I was watching live as they were showing footage of the smoke coming out of Tower 1, when the second plane flew straight into Tower 2. I will never forget the complete shock I felt watching that happen LIVE. I knew right then, these weren't accidents. That was a full sized jet and it had aimed directly for the building. My little girl was such a good baby, I got her out of her crib (she was right at 1 year old), and gave her some breakfast while I sat glued to the television. I was watching again as Katie Couric was interviewing someone in the Pentagon, when that person said, "I don't want to alarm you, but I just felt shaking. I think we may have just been hit" (or something to that effect). At that point, any semblence of composure that I had had, fell apart. The Pentagon, is a FORTRESS, inpenetrable, or so we thought. I called my father, who spent 21 years in the Army, and had worked in the Pentagon for 8.5 years, in the section that was destroyed. He still does business up there a lot, and I needed to make sure he wasn't there. As soon as I heard his voice I fell apart. He was trying to reassure me, saying "we don't know anyone in NYC." "Daddy," I choked out, "they just hit the Pentagon." I cannot repeat the words he threw out at that news. While I personally did not know anyone who lost their life... my dad did.
The solidarity that I felt from the world at large in the days and weeks after horrible day, brings tears to my eyes even now. I remember the Royal Guard playing OUR National Anthem in front of Buckingham Palace and getting chills. Like Holly, the quiet outside with no planes flying over head was eerie, even the animals seemed to feel that it was a day for silence.
My thoughts and prayers are with all the family members of those who lost their lives that day. Everyone in NYC, everyone in Washington DC, and everyone on United Flight 91, where the men and women on board bravely fought to bring that plane down where the only loss of life would be those on the plane.
Peace to all.
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I was in my operatory when the news came over the air. We don't have a TV in the office so I never saw any of the images until 7 or 8 that night after I got home and gathered the courage to look at the replays.
One thing that did strike me during the day was when I went out at noon to drive to the local McD's for some lunch. It was TOTALLY quiet outside, now birds chirping, no traffic noise, now laqnmowers,no jets overhead ( we're in the flight approach to BWI ) and the people driving around were all cocking their ears to listen to their car radios. And no-one was speeding. Even the girl who handed me my lunch was listening to the same station that I was, so I had stereo for a few moments. It was just plain discomforting.
My daughter and my receptionist's daughter-in-law kept phoning us with updates, and our patients were also telling us what had been on the TV, when they came in for their appointments.
We have about a dozen patients who work at the Pentagon and we ( Thank God ) didn't lose any of them, although they told us all about how they had close calls. ( meetings moved - because of ongoing reconstruction - from rooms where the plane hit to another room on an inner hallway - the explosion stopping on the other side of an office wall, etc ).
Many frantic phone calls were made until they were all were accounted for, so we consider ourselves and our friends very lucky.
As I sit here typing this, I think of the friends I've made, through HP, around the world: Australia, India, England, Ireland, Belgium, Spain and lots of places here in the US. Young, old, middle-aged, male, female, from different backgrounds and faiths and customs and I'm amazed at how small our world has become, just in my lifetime.
When JFK was shot in Dallas, we didn't see anything on the TV except Walter Cronkite reading from little scraps of teletype and pieces of paper he was being handed from off camera. Our first inkling of how horrendous THAT event was , happened when they took JFK's coffin off of Air Force One late that night when they returned to DC. We saw Jackie Kennedy standing there in her blood spatterd suit ( it was black and white TV back then so we didn't know it was a pink suit, but I remember gasping and I was only 14 at the time "My God, look at the blood!" It was smeared down her stockings and I couldn't believe she'd walk out in public like that.
SO, the instant TV coverage of 9/11 is etched into our brains, and it's so much harder to fully grasp all that happened that day, even now, I've still now seen all of the footage taken that day, I can't bear to watch it, having been to New York and seen those buildings in person.
Seven years . . . it's hard to believe that the wolrd has just kept on turning, but it has , it does and it will. We can just try to work toward peaceful understanding and global harmony, one person at a time.
It's still 9/10 here in Maryland, but it's 11:50PM , so I'm going to bed. Love to all of you, my wide world of friends.
Peace ,
Holly
P.S. please excuse my typos, it's hard to type and cry at the same time.