Readers recall where they were on the morning of the Sept. 11 attacks:
I was on my way to a technical college -- a Windows Server 2000 class.
The first news report I heard said a traffic helicopter hit one of the towers.
I remember thinking how odd that was. The instructor had the TV on during
the entire class. We all sat in horror as the towers came down and as more
planes crashed. My nephew, then 14, was frantic until he found out his mother
was safe (she is a flight attendant for United). He had recently lost his
father. My niece and her family live in Manhattan. Her husband works close
to the towers. Again we were frantic for knowledge that he was safe.
I didn't lose any immediate family that day, but I think all of us lost
from our American family. How did we as Americans start to gloss over this
horrible event so fast? I heard we have an attention span of about two weeks.
I think it's shorter.
-Barb
I had just walked out my front door to go to work. Finding that my car
had been broken into, I went back into the house and called the cops. While
waiting for the police to arrive, I turned on the TV. The news was just breaking;
everyone was speculating on whether this was an accident or an act of terror.
Then on live TV, we all got our answer as the second tower was hit. When the
cops showed up, that police report just didn't seem quite as important. This
showed me that even when you think you are having a bad day, you really should
go back and count your blessings.
-William
I was on-site at a client office in the medical center in Houston, where
we live. Colleagues called me out to the area sitting room to watch the news
of the first one. I was touched by the loss of life, digested that, and returned
to my desk. After a while came the news of No. 2. I returned to watch and
listen. After taking in the images for a few minutes, my heart sank. My wife
was in downtown Houston, at her job, on the 44th floor of one of the tallest
buildings in Houston. I went immediately to the phone, called her, said something
really stupid, then got my wits and told her to leave the building immediately.
Of course our family was safe. There was no threat in Houston. We have
counted our blessings many times since that day, sometimes in remembrance
of that day. Thank you for taking a moment to remember it, and to invite reflection.
Our hearts go out to those who lost loved ones on that horrific day. Special
sadness comes over me each time I think of the brave responders running into
those buildings and helping others exit. My heart breaks for each innocent
life lost.
-Rick
I had the unusual distinction of being in both New York and Washington
on 9/11 and saw both the Twin Towers and the Pentagon just before they were
hit. You may recall that Jeff Immelt had the unfortunate timing of taking
over GE from Jack Welch on Sept. 10. Jeff scheduled a live satellite video
feed to introduce himself companywide (worldwide) to over 330,000 employees.
I am based in Washington, D.C. and flew to White Plains, N.Y. to work on that
project at a Danbury, Conn. building.
I was scheduled to fly home to D.C. the night of Sept. 10, but a big
thunderstorm came in and grounded all of the flights. I got a hotel in White
Plains and a reservation on a flight out the next morning. The flight took
off at about 8 and I flew over Manhattan at about 8:20 (the first plane hit
the tower at about 8:45). I had a window seat on the left as we headed south.
We flew just west of Manhattan and I got a magnificent view of the city. I
recall thinking how I never grow tired of seeing the city from that perspective.
By the time we landed at Washington National, the place was buzzing.
No one was quite sure what to do. They knew about New York, but had not yet
grounded all flights. I got in my car and started heading to my office in
Northern Virginia. The route took me up the George Washington Parkway, which
goes right next to the Pentagon (they have since moved the road a few hundred
feet to the east so it is not as close). Shortly after I passed the Pentagon
at about 9:40, the radio announcers said there was smoke coming from the Pentagon.
I looked in my rearview mirror and saw it firsthand. It was all still very
confusing and surreal. The gravity of the situation did not kick in until
I got to my office and saw the second tower fall on live TV.
-Mark
I was working at my job in Columbus, Ohio (systems analyst with a large
insurance company). When the first plane hit, we turned on a TV in our break
room and watched as the events of that morning unfolded. I could not help
but feel a deep sense of loss, but could not put my finger on exactly what.
Having grown up in New York City, I had many friends and relatives living
there. Friends who worked in Lower Manhattan. My cousin's wife was on her
way to work, but was not in the immediate area yet. Another friend was out
of town that day.
Later, I learned that 11 high school mates were in the towers. Seven
of them were firemen, and one had been in my graduating class. Two members
of the sports car club that I race with were on Flight 63. To this day, I
wear the pin from the fire department I belonged to in Upstate New York, and
carry memorials on the sides of my race car. I also proudly wear the unit
patch from the fire station that my classmate belonged to.
-Anonymous
On 9/11, I was in Houston with three other co-workers. We were expanding
our office there and we had brought in two new racks with new hardware. We
were eating breakfast at the hotel before we went into the office and the
TV was on, showing the WTC and talking about how a plane had hit one of the
buildings. With shock and confusion, people watched the TV, some standing,
some still eating. Then the second plane hit the other building while we were
all watching.
Knowing this was not TV but reality was completely heart-stopping. I
called my daughter as she was in New York with her dad. They typically take
the subway train which passes through the WTC on up to mid-town. Thankfully,
they had not even gotten up yet. I called home to Virginia to check on the
rest of my family. I have a sister whose husband worked at the Pentagon. She
had not heard from him, and by this time a plane had hit there. She was understandably
in a panic. As the day went on she finally got in touch with him; he was helping
people within the Pentagon who had been hurt.
Several days later, our work in Dallas completed, I remember sitting
out by the pool, still seething with anger over the attack...and in the late
evening sunset, an airplane finally took into the air. After the skies above
Dallas had been empty of jets, this was a small but significant event, and
I was proud. I got on an airplane the next day and the airport was fairly
empty. All the employees and passengers were at high alert. I have always
enjoyed flying and this day the flight seemed special. The clouds below the
wing more fluffy, the land far below more rugged, the people, with or without
fear, pushing forward.
-Karen
I was in the dean's office of the engineering college at Ohio Northern
University for my work study. The exec assistant came in and said that one
of the towers was hit. When I went down to watch, the Pentagon had been hit.
It was amazing how the university came together that day and you could walk
down the hallway of the dorms and hear CNN without missing a beat.
I remember calling my mom and she said that this event would be, for
me, like the assassination of JFK was for her. The world would never be the
same.
-Lora