Remembering 9.11.01

 

09.11.11

Today marks the 10^th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks and as a US citizen living in Canada my thoughts are with my Country today. I will always remember where I was and what I was doing- so I chose to share with you all my personal accounts of that day. It is just one story out of all in the world who remember this day- but today we all shall never forget. 

10 years ago I was in school as the events were unfolding and those horrible images of the smoke filled towers came on our classroom tv. Our teacher was speechless and she sat down at her desk. I thought for a split second that she turned on a movie and couldn’t understand why we would be watching a horror movie in class at that time. Then the teacher turned to us slowly and said that those images were real- and there was what seemed to be an attack at the World Trade Center. My mind raced to the year before when (as a class) we took a field trip to the World Trade Center and we were on the top floors taking pictures and getting snacks at the café. My mind raced.

As I was living in Philadelphia at the time, many of my classmates had family and friends that lived (or worked) in New York and panic spread quickly. We were stunned and frightened. The school was eerily silent except for some teachers running in the hallways and sobs from some students around the school. Many of us grabbed our phones to call loved ones and we were scared that Philadelphia could be next. As the events unfolded we started to watch bodies fall from the towers on the news. The blood drained from my face. It was around 9:00am that we saw the second plane hit the South Tower. We watched in desperate horror as news showed the people trapped on the 100+ floors waving their hands and sticking their heads out the windows of the towers for help through the thick black smoke. (Little did we know then that those people trapped on the top floors would never be rescued).

All morning I kept watching images of firefighters and NYPD police officers racing to the towers as everyone was running for their lives away from the scene. While the Country was watching- those in uniform went to work. Little did we all know again that those faces on the news (getting ready to go up those 80+ floors)- many of those lives would be lost.

People in my school were crying and I felt scared. We were told that we would be allowed to leave school when family members came to pick us up and to keep our thoughts and prayers with those in New York City. Some students who had family working in the World Trade Center were told to go to the office. Everything seemed silent as we were stuck in a critical moment of watching the news and waiting- not knowing what horrendous thing could be coming next as an attack toward the US. At 10:00am we watched the South Tower fall. There was so much smoke on the screen that we could not believe it happened. Raw emotion fell through my classroom as we watched the ominous cloud of dust and debris race through NYC and engulf all people in the streets. Images of people with hair and clothes all caked with grey dust were coughing and running. We sat and watched the news in silence. At about 10:30am we watched the North Tower fall. The Towers were no more and the images of NYC engulfed with smoke and dust will never be forgotten.

The rest of the day seemed like a blur when we heard the news that there was another flight that hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. I was with my mother by then and she immediately called my brothers (who were safe- but also keeping a watchful eye on the news). Call after call was made to family to make sure everyone was ok. Then we heard that there was another plane that was down in Pennsylvania. Now the threat was in our State too. I couldn’t help but think we were not safe in Philadelphia. What city was next? Was every city in the US going to have some sort of attack? My father (who was in the U.S Air Force reserve at the time) was called to Andrews Air Force base immediately. We later learned that police escorted him to the base to help him cut through traffic.

Today we remember the events of 9-11-01. As an American, I want to say thank you to all the first responders, fire fighters and police officers for the job that you do. When others run from danger- you run into the dancer to help. I also want to give my thanks for those in our Military who risk their lives everyday to protect us from these types of hateful attacks. Future generations deserve peace in this world. 9-11 we will never forget.


Image Source: http://urbanpeek.com/2011/08/27/911-memorial/