9/11 Twenty Years Later
It’s been twenty years since hijacked jets were flown into the two tallest towers of the World Trade Center and into the Pentagon. Another hijacked jet crashed because the passengers fought the hijackers.
This is what I remember from that day. This is only what I remember from that day.
I was up early on the morning of September 11, 2001. I took my dog, Bailey, on a long walk in the national forest near my home. He was a Brittany, and needed long walks to work off his energy. I mean long walks. We were gone for hours, on the trails of a heavily wooded mesa.
After we descended from the mesa, we walked on a dirt road. Along the way, I noticed the flagpole at a hotel was at half mast. I thought that perhaps Ronald Reagan or Dick Cheney had died. There seemed to be no real urgency to me at the time.
Once we got home, I turned on my stereo. I was tuned to a classical music station, so I did not hear anything for about 20 minutes. Then I heard that a second jet had hit a tower at the World Trade Center. I turned on the TV, and watched replays of the second jet hitting the second tower. Sad and sorry to say, my first reaction was incredulity. I could not quite get my mind around it. It took a few minutes for me to accept it at an emotional level.
When I emotionally accepted it, I felt very sad. It was one of the great sorrows of my life. The sorrow was different from failures or loss of loved ones. It was, however, intense and deep. There was no room for anger or fear right then. As I sat in my living room, holding Bailey, I had a moment of enlightenment. I thought this must be what it feels like when the US (or another major power) bombs a city. I was thinking Libya or Serbia.
Then I learned about the Pentagon.
Then I remember hoping that the hijacker terrorists were not Middle Eastern. I have many friends from the Middle East and North Africa. I’ve seen the bigotry towards them. And I knew that that fear and hate would be mobilized against them, even by alleged experts on TV.
The emotions I remember clearly. Events are a lot less clear in my memory. I know that I called my mother. I know I sent emails to lots of people I knew in the Washington, DC area. I figured an email would be OK rather than tying up phone lines that their families should use. I talked to my next door neighbor, a man who had been in the Army in WW II. He told me he had seen two attacks on his country, Pearl Harbor and what had happened in WW II.
My memories of that day are clear for my emotions, less so for events that occurred that day. It is common for memories to morph or become confused or changed.
A lot happened because of 9/11, some of it good, some of it bad. But as for the day itself, I remember how I felt. I still feel it today; profound sadness for many people.
This is what I remember from that day. This is only what I remember from that day.
I was up early on the morning of September 11, 2001. I took my dog, Bailey, on a long walk in the national forest near my home. He was a Brittany, and needed long walks to work off his energy. I mean long walks. We were gone for hours, on the trails of a heavily wooded mesa.
After we descended from the mesa, we walked on a dirt road. Along the way, I noticed the flagpole at a hotel was at half mast. I thought that perhaps Ronald Reagan or Dick Cheney had died. There seemed to be no real urgency to me at the time.
Once we got home, I turned on my stereo. I was tuned to a classical music station, so I did not hear anything for about 20 minutes. Then I heard that a second jet had hit a tower at the World Trade Center. I turned on the TV, and watched replays of the second jet hitting the second tower. Sad and sorry to say, my first reaction was incredulity. I could not quite get my mind around it. It took a few minutes for me to accept it at an emotional level.
When I emotionally accepted it, I felt very sad. It was one of the great sorrows of my life. The sorrow was different from failures or loss of loved ones. It was, however, intense and deep. There was no room for anger or fear right then. As I sat in my living room, holding Bailey, I had a moment of enlightenment. I thought this must be what it feels like when the US (or another major power) bombs a city. I was thinking Libya or Serbia.
Then I learned about the Pentagon.
Then I remember hoping that the hijacker terrorists were not Middle Eastern. I have many friends from the Middle East and North Africa. I’ve seen the bigotry towards them. And I knew that that fear and hate would be mobilized against them, even by alleged experts on TV.
The emotions I remember clearly. Events are a lot less clear in my memory. I know that I called my mother. I know I sent emails to lots of people I knew in the Washington, DC area. I figured an email would be OK rather than tying up phone lines that their families should use. I talked to my next door neighbor, a man who had been in the Army in WW II. He told me he had seen two attacks on his country, Pearl Harbor and what had happened in WW II.
My memories of that day are clear for my emotions, less so for events that occurred that day. It is common for memories to morph or become confused or changed.
A lot happened because of 9/11, some of it good, some of it bad. But as for the day itself, I remember how I felt. I still feel it today; profound sadness for many people.