Hard to believe it's really been eight years. This morning I went down to the basement and dug out the old Chicago Tribunes we saved from September 2001; we had a little review of modern history around breakfast table. The kids were all so young then that they really don't remember too much about it. Interestingly, the Anchoress says that most young people don't really want to dwell on it; that's understandable.
I still remember the shock, fear, and deep sorrow I felt that morning. I also remember how I tried to protect the kids from the worst of it by having the TV off during our school morning, but running upstairs to check a different TV every so often. A second plane hit; then a tower fell; then a third plane hit the Pentagon; then rumors of more planes flying toward targets. Then, Flight 93 crashing into Pennsylvania ground. Even now, I'm not sure I have the chronology right; it's a blur of terror and shock. I know the north tower was hit first, but the south tower fell first; there were a few things I committed to memory because I wanted to always remember some specific, hard, facts about the day.
The uncertainty was terrible: how bad would this be? What more was planned? How many would die, and when would this attack end? I thought about a good friend who was a flight attendant for United; she was flying that day, as it turned out, and ended up being grounded on the east coast for several days, until they finally started flying planes again.
I still remember the heroes of Flight 93: I vowed never to forget their names. Todd Beamer. Jeremy Glick. Thomas Burnett. Mark Bingham. Here's a site with a timeline of the revolt by the passengers as they bravely stopped the hijackers from crashing the jet into the White House or Congress.
And tonight, I found this site with a story I've only just begun to read; it's hard to remember everything that happened that day, but at the same time, it's so very important to remember.
1 comment:
My kids will not forget that day either...they remember me crying on the couch....Roger was watching it live on TV...we let them see a few parts of news specials...one had home footage of someone filming the people running down the street away from the buildings...then a huge cloud of dust and glass and soot came screeching past the window while the guy filming quickly shut it...the people running on the street were completely enveloped in it...the home footage was the most interesting to watch, here these people are taping this terrible scene wondering if all of New York was under attack....a close friend said his coworkers were in the South Tower when they saw papers and worse falling....they left immediately even though they were told to go back...and because we lived underneath a flight path (in Oak Creek at the time where the planes roared overhead constantly) the following days were so eerily silent...I still like to check out books in library about the victims (and survivors...many of whom are suffering from cancers from having breathed in that toxic air and fumes).
Ugh. I was going to write more but your word verifications are the worst! It's like you *know* I am on! The word is: "Unstable"! Are you getting back at me for teasing you about not having me over for dinner when you had the grilled salmon? I wonder...:)
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