Nine-Eleven

It’s 9/11 – the 5-year anniversary of horrifying terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

I remember the day it happened. It was working at my college Admission’s Office at the time, sitting at my desk when the department secretary came rushing in from the lobby where she had been working the receptionist’s desk. “We have been attacked,” she exclaimed – “America has been attacked!”

We all gathered in front of the TV in the lobby and watched in disbelief the footage of the 2nd airplane flying into Tower II. The silence, the bewilderment, the suspense of the time that elapsed before suddenly, that enormous structure began to implode upon itself, crumbling, crashing, down, down, down… until a monstrous cloud of dust was all that was left.

Nobody got much more work done that day. Groups of us were standing around talking, guessing, watching the coverage. Most of us had a hard time tearing ourselves away from the TV screen for more than a few minutes at a time. There had been reports that all air traffic had been grounded, and that at least one more plane had been commandeered and was in the air with potential terrorists on board. And that that plane later crashed somewhere in Pennsylvania.

I’ve heard it said about those who remember Kennedy being shot – that they will always remember where they were and what they were doing the moment they heard the news. That’s how 9/11 is for me. I wasn’t personally affected by the tragedy, in that I didn’t have any relatives or friends in New York at the time. But nevertheless, that day is etched into my memory.

The colors are a little blurred now. I don’t remember what I wore. But it was a moment that changed the world. That I will always remember.