Such Great Heights

Because everything looks perfect from far away.

Six years. September 11, 2007

Filed under: New York New York — Clink @ 10:40 am

I cried on the treadmill again this morning, but this time it was not over a music video.
 
The hovering clouds are apt; it’s the most depressing day of the year, especially around these parts.
 
While walking back from the gym this morning I saw a group of policemen and firefighters, one of them holding a flag, crossing through Columbus Circle. All of us at the corner, even though we had a walk signal, stopped in our tracks. I wanted to salute. Or say “thank you.” Instead I just gave a small smile and lowered my head slightly and proceeded.
 
In the office this morning we played the “where were you game,” because that’s what ties us. We each bring our own sorrow, our own tale to the tragic potluck. Sharing makes it easier.
 
Me? I was in college, a junior. I woke up before my roommates and went into the living room. I sat down with a bowl of cereal – Special K, skim milk, why do I remember that detail? – and turned on the television. The first plane had just hit. It was the beginning, back when everyone thought it was an accident.
 
I called my dad at his office, just to talk to someone. I was a fearful flyer even then and anything remotely related to an air disaster sent me into an emotional frenzy.
 
Then the second plane.
 
Then the world changed.
 
I wasn’t in New York when it happened. Like all of us, I knew people who were. Knew people who knew people who died. One of those names this morning that I listened to while eating breakfast, while brushing my teeth, while getting dressed. I only made it to the D’s before I had to leave for work.
 
New York is New York today. People go about their business, nothing seems all too different. A bit more somber, yes. Just a bit.
 
Many blocks south, however, I’m sure things are a lot different: the gathering of people at Ground Zero, people who lost. Not people who knew people; people who are the people that people knew.
 
Six years seems like a lifetime. I can’t even remember when terror wasn’t a part of our daily lives. When every time I went through the Lincoln Tunnel or over the George Washington Bridge or down into the subway it didn’t cross my mind: are they going to blow this up next?
 
My children, your children – they will never have known life before 9/11. It’s hard to comprehend.
 
I don’t want to get lost in the depression, so I’m going to stop there.
 
It comes down to the fact that I’m proud to be a part of this city. Today more than usual.
 
Feel free to share your “where I was” story. On the surface it’s selfish, I know, because none of us were actually in the buildings so who cares where we were? But it’s cathartic. It binds us. And in the face of all of this, being brought together is the silver lining on a dark, dark cloud.

 

40 Responses to “Six years.”

  1. onebigholiday Says: September 11, 2007 at 10:48 am

    I was in high school, wow you were a junior in college. For some reason, I thought you were around my age. Anyway, I remember hearing the saddest story from my friend, she was in college in boston. She said that she was sitting next to this nice girl and class was over, so the girl turned her cell phone back on…while listening to her voicemail she broke down. Sadly, both of her parents died on 9/11 and they both left her two messages. Every time I think about that story, I feel so sad. Poor girl…

  2. Michelle Says: September 11, 2007 at 10:48 am

    I started a post about this this morning too, seems to be on everyone’s minds but how can it not be?

    Being in New York now you must have a totally different perspective on the anniversary of 9/11. And it is scary to think that our children will never know life pre-9/11. Very scary.

    I was actually in Calculus class in college, my sophomore year. We were having class outside so none of us were aware of what was happening. My bf at the time called me on my way home to tell me to turn on the TV. I did as soon as I walked in and saw the 2nd plane hit. My dad called me shortly after and I will never forget how scared he sounded. “This is the begininnings of WWIII, Michelle,” he said. “I hate to scare you, but that’s the truth.”

  3. Courtney Says: September 11, 2007 at 10:51 am

    Senior year of college, driving to campus to my creative writing class.

    I kept switching the radio wondering why people were talking about planes and the World Trade Center; where was the music?

    Then I knew.

  4. DevilsHeaven Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:03 am

    I was at work, in MI. One of my co-workers came into my cube to tell me that a plane had crashed into one of the Towers. At that time, like you said, just an accident, I rolled my eyes, sighed, and continued to work. Then she came back when the second one hit. Total confusion. At that time we had a projector TV in our conference room. So it basically was like watching TV on a movie screen. We all crowded in there to watch the news, on the big screen. Talk about a bad idea. Then people started leaving to go home.

  5. Ashley Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:05 am

    I was in high school - I was in French class when my teacher’s husband, who also taught at the school, burst into the classroom and told us we needed to turn on the TV in the back corner. When asked why, he told us that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane.

    My reaction? “Who’s World Trade Center? Ours?” It didn’t seem possible that we could be under attack.

    I can’t believe it’s been 6 years. What you said about our children though? I think about that all the time. It scares the hell out of me.

  6. Molly Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:16 am

    I was a freshman in college. I was sitting in my Theatre 100 class when some dumb kid joked that a plan hit a building in NY. I thought he was joking.

    I went to get my mail after class and that’s when I saw the news. I ran back to my dorm to wake my roomate and we sat and watched in silence. It took hours to reach my cousin at NYU. I was terrified.

    I wrote about this last year, but I can’t bring myself to do it again. It’s definitely on my mind, though.

  7. Kevin Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:19 am

    Living in DC at the time and had just gotten up after a late, late night at the architecture studio. We could see smoke rising off in the distance from the Pentagon and there were fighter jets screaming by overhead. Very scary.

  8. kwarterlifecrisis Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:27 am

    I just blogged about this too. I was a freshman in college getting ready for my French class. Like you remember what you were eating, I remember exactly what I was wearing and doing when my dad called to tell me what was happening.

    I am dressed up today at work (damn that dress code) but tonight when I get home, I’m gonna put on my ‘I <3 NY’ shirt and remember. And be thankful.

  9. caitlynintherye Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:32 am

    I was in high school too, in Latin class. Our teacher was pulled into the hallway and we sat relishing the break. When she came back in we knew something had happened, and then she turned on the tv. It didn’t really hit me then and I regret that. I wish I had been different, felt differently.
    During the day we had students go home after the school alerted that their parents were still missing in the chaos.
    Now, six years later, I’m going to be sitting in my terrorist class talking about how we can prevent things like this from happening, how we can fight back.

  10. MLE Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:33 am

    I lived in California and never listened to the radio or watched TV while I got ready for work, so the first I heard about it was when I was on BART going to work. More people were talking on the bus. I got to work (a job I loved in an environment/with a boss I hated) and I went online to check on my friends in NYC (luckily, they all ended up OK) and the boss called me (the first one in) and told me to tell everyone else to go home.

    I went home. I didn’t know what else to do. I went shopping. It was a surreal day. I talked to my boyfriend that night (he’s now my fiance, but at the time we were living 1200 miles apart) and neither of us knew what to say; we just wanted to hear one another’s voices.

    I blogged about it last year, but I don’t think I will this year. It’s not my story to tell.

  11. Michelle Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:49 am

    I was at home sleeping prior to going to my spanish class- a senior in collge. I remember the phone ringing, a panicked voice telling me to turn on the T.V. to see the unthinkable… to see the attack we were under.

    My then future husband, a Marine, was at the Pentagon that day. I think about how seconds could have changed the fact that I now know him and am married to him. His location in that building could have rippled our future together had he been on the other side. It sounds selfish to admit this, but I’m so lucky he was where he was, and not where he wasn’t. I might have never known him.

  12. jenny Says: September 11, 2007 at 12:08 pm

    monday i had worked another long/late night bartending and had fallen asleep on the living room floor with the tv on. when i woke up one plane had hit. i remember just sitting there and watching. i don’t think i turned the news off for about 4 months.
    i remember trying to get in touch with everyone i knew who would have been in that vicinity/buildings. going to work later that night, i just remember sitting around talking and crying. i lived in CT and it was too close for comfort. the days following many of the police officers and firemen i knew made their way in to NYC to help, that was scary in it’s own way.
    it’s still strange to talk to people that lived in other parts of the country. people that didn’t know people who were supposed to be there, people who didn’t know people on those flights. they all have stories, but the stories are so different.

  13. Jess Says: September 11, 2007 at 12:23 pm

    I was a senior in high school, studying abroad in France, and had been there for about two weeks. I was at school and it was the afternoon because of the time difference. One of my classmates tried to tell me what had happened but my French wasn’t yet good enough to understand. I figured out something about airplanes crashing using my limited comprehension and her hand gestures, but I thought that two airplanes had collided in mid-air and I was really confused as to how that could happen. Then she dragged me into the student lounge to watch on the TV and I remember everyone in the room watching me, the only American, to see my reaction. And I remember not being able to react or say anything at all.

  14. dailyeditor Says: September 11, 2007 at 12:35 pm

    I was sitting in my linguistics class when I first heard someone mention a plane hitting “a building” in New York. When the first plane hit, though, I was actually standing in my apartment looking at the microwave and cursing at the time because I needed to catch a bus to campus and I was going to be late. What a silly problem to have when something so much bigger was going on.

  15. La Says: September 11, 2007 at 12:41 pm

    I was sitting in my office, when one of my usually very level headed co-workers came flying in with a portable tv screaming, “You are not going to BELIEVE what’s going on.” I was speechless with disbelief, and I vividly remember being glued to the television for days, reliving everything over and over again. It’s incomprehensible to think of all the loss that took place in such a tiny fraction of time. And you’re so right about the future generations - it’s heartbreaking, really.

  16. aernyc Says: September 11, 2007 at 1:04 pm

    I just blogged about this as well, what a sad day. I was a sophomore in college and thought it was absolutely nothing when I first heard about it through my roommate. When I did realize the severity of it, I was desperate to get back home to my family, as they lived about 45 min outside the city and my dad was in the city when it happened. He actually had just moved offices from one of the buildings that ended up being heavily damaged to midtown and I was nearly hysterical thinking he was still down there. Everyone i knew from home knew someone who was supposed to be there that day and unfortunately the brother of a childhood friend of mine who had lived across the street from me growing up didn’t make it out of the towers that day. Rest in peace…

  17. DG Says: September 11, 2007 at 1:06 pm

    I was a junior in college and sleeping still. School hadn’t started yet. My roommate walks in my room with the phone. “It’s your dad”, he said. My dad immediately panicks “wake up! Turn on the TV! We’re under attack!” It was the worst way I had ever woken up.

    Downstairs sat all of my five roommates, along with about 10 other friends and neighbors. We sat in silenced for hours and watched. One of my worst memories ever.

  18. ...BeccaLynn Says: September 11, 2007 at 1:10 pm

    I was a freshman. In high school. I was in class when the first one hit, and after class my friend’s boyfriend came up to us and said, “The World Trade Center has just been hit by a plane.” We both thought he was joking. Then, when his face didn’t change, we found the nearest television and watched as the 2nd one hit.

    Clink, You’re so awesome. Even more so because you cry on the treadmill.

  19. littlebrownbunny Says: September 11, 2007 at 1:15 pm

    I had just started working at my first job. I was on the 42nd floor of an office building on 42nd Street, facing south, so I had a direct view - of the gaping hole the first plane left, the second plane hitting, the collapse. I watched the whole thing happen, live, in real time. I’ll never forget it.

  20. Sarah663 Says: September 11, 2007 at 1:57 pm

    I was in grad school. I had just worked the night shift and was heading to bed when my friend called me to say that her car had broken down on a busy road. While we were waiting for a tow truck, this trucker pulled off the road to see if we needed help. He was yelling, “We’ve been attacked.” At the time we thought he was crazy, but when we put on the radio, we heard the whole story. I went over to my boyfriend at the time’s apartment and woke him up to watch it. We were watching when the second plane hit - we were just numb, all we could do was sit there. I went on to my internship but no one was doing anything. I went to a church on the way home and just sat there for a few minutes. A couple was in there planning their wedding, and I just thought, how can people be going on like everything is normal?? It was very surreal.

  21. libby Says: September 11, 2007 at 2:35 pm

    I was a sophomore in high school. Transitioning between periods…walking through that one random hall that had orange and blue lockers (wtf?). A girl…Amy…asked me “did you hear? a plane crashed into the WTC…” I remember my always serious ever stern history teacher being terrified and shaken up, because her daughter lived in NYC. Her fear…made it all real. Made me more scared and sad than I expected.

  22. The Butterfly Temptress Says: September 11, 2007 at 2:36 pm

    I was in nursing school but I’d stayed home from classes to be with my baby. While she slept in her crib I sat and watched in tearful silence. I knew right then and there that I would never again be the same person. Gone was the optimistic and idealistic little girl and in her place was a woman who suddenly knew more about the world than she ever wanted to.

    No matter the time or the place, I know in my heart that so many of us will never forget.

  23. porcelet Says: September 11, 2007 at 2:40 pm

    I was a freshman in college in MA. I was on my way to my Politics in Theater class. When I arrived, I was the only one in my room. It surprised me because I went to school with only the over-achievers, and they were ALWAYS early for class. I stepped into the hallway and there was the oldest radio known to god and mankind and everyone on the second floor of this particular building was crammed in around it. Then someone yelled, “they hit one of the twin towers. I thought to myself…”who hit what?” Class was canceled immediately and I went back to my dorm room where my boyfriend had IMed me asking, “where’s your dad today?” My dad worked between 1st and Constitution and the Pentagon. So my heart is racing. I thought it was in NY? My roommate came running in our room, tears flowing from her face. Her mother was in the neighboring building and had run out with her lap top shielding the debris from her head, and was now stuck in Staten Island. I tried the entire day to call my parents in Arlington, but the phones weren’t working. I was so lucky my parents were not affected by the hits, but they were the people who knew the people who died.

  24. Anna Says: September 11, 2007 at 2:46 pm

    I was at work in media relations at a college in Massachusetts at the time. My boss and I had drawn straws for going to the New York Times with the president to pitch some education stories, and he won (lost?). He called me from a pay phone in the Times lobby, and said it was a ghost town–not a single staff member in sight.

    Back in my office we gathered around watching the TV when it was reported that one of the planes was bound for California, and had departed from Boston. I was standing near a colleague whose husband was on the second plane to hit. Watching the realization come over her face was something I will never forget, and I felt so guilty for watching her shock and pain while feeling so protected from it.

  25. BabyGirl Says: September 11, 2007 at 3:18 pm

    Technically, I was getting ready for work when it all began. I’m sure the TV was on but it was on one of the cable network station, probably TNT, probably watching Charmed while getting dressed. I put on my discman and headed for the train. I was running late that day. Got on the A train and it crawled. No explanation because the MTA never tells you what’s wrong with the subway. We crawled all the way to Penn Station when the conductor said we weren’t going any further. No big deal I thought. I’d just catch the 1 train through Penn. But then I noticed that none of the LIRR schedules were up. Then I got to the 1 train and another passenger told me not to bother, they weren’t running either. Went upstairs to the street, there was no traffic. None. Just the occasional police vehicle. My cell phone didn’t work. The lines for the pay phones were horrendous. I walked to 8th Avenue to catch the bus. When the bus finally came, it was packed. I ran into a friend from college who said a plane had hit the WTC. I’m thinking a little one engine Cessna got off course. Luckily, I was supposed to go to the gym that day so I strapped on my sneakers and decided to walk. From 34th and 8th to 66th and West End. I figured whatever was going on downtown, I’d be safer at work then trying to get back to Brooklyn. It took me about an hour. I figured out the severity of it all during my walk up 10th Avenue. Even though, a lot of my fear was from unfounded stories (like there were 6 more planes hijacked and one had hit the Sears Tower in Chicago). I made it to work a little before 12 and I cried. Cried because I was alive. Cried because I was scared.

  26. Emily Says: September 11, 2007 at 3:32 pm

    I was a senior in high school and was standing in the hall during a break between class when my friend’s mother who worked at the school came up to me and said, “Did you hear? The country is being attacked!”

    We had had a debate in US History not too long before September 11th about our generation and how we took things for granted because we had never known war or strife. When she said that to me, my first thought was, “Oh my god. This is it. This is going to be the moment of our generation.” I was petrified. I thought the country was under attack. I thought the world as I knew it (with America as the world’s leading power) was over. I walked down the hall into the closest classroom with televisions and watched as the first building fell. And then the second.

    After a while they made all of us return to our schedules. I should have been in AP European History. I walked to the class and none of the lights were on. The principal came around and instructed all of the teachers to carry on with class as normal. Mr. Welch, our teacher, closed the door behind the principal and said to us, “This is the most historically defining moment in your lives. We will not be continuing on with class.” He turned on the television and we watched.

  27. Lisa Says: September 11, 2007 at 3:39 pm

    I was in grade 9, too. I didn’t know what the world trade center was so the actual building falling didn’t mean much- it was a really human thing.

    Actually, I remember the geography substitution made us put our atlases away and he told us there had been a terrorist attack. I thought he meant on our school. In about 3 seconds I had envisioned my escape route, how to avoid windows, and probably something heroic where I save the student body. It took me a couple minutes to really understand what was going on.

  28. verybadcat Says: September 11, 2007 at 3:45 pm

    I had stayed home from work that day. I wasn’t sick, though I did hate that particular job with a passion, I just had this urge to stay home, so I did. I was on the computer and had Good Morning America on when the first plane hit. My Mom worked on the crash response team for a major airline, so she was my first call. She and I were on the phone when we watched the second plane hit live on GMA. We just sat there, speechless. I let her go, because neither one of us could really speak. My husband was on his last day of a three day hiking trip and I knew he was out of cell phone range. I just sat on my couch all day, watching tv, crying and wanting him there. He had caught bits and pieces of the radio as he was driving out of the wilderness, but he assumed everyone was talking about the 1993 incident. As soon as he could get a signal, he called me. I asked him if he’d been listening to the news, and he told me that he knew that everyone was talking about the World Trade Center, but that he didn’t know why. I told him. I told him “People flew planes into the towers, and into the Pentagon, and into the ground. Words can’t really describe it. It’s really bad. Just come home. Just come home and I’ll show you”. I don’t think I have ever been happier in all my life, or ever will be, for that matter, to hold him.

    I was living in a major city back then, and my home and office were in four bazillion flight paths. When all the flights were grounded, that background noise of planes flying overhead, that I barely noticed before? It’s absence was deafening. Deafening. It was the weirdest, eeriest feeling. I remember driving through that major city just a few days after 9/11 and shaking like a leaf. Suddenly, what had always seemed so benign and safe made my skin crawl.

    Thanks, Clink. I hadn’t planned on doing this today, but I think I needed to. This was a big part of my whole End of the Innocence part of growing up, but I’ve always felt like I don’t really have a right to have my story, because it turns out so much better than many other stories.

  29. Jack Says: September 11, 2007 at 4:10 pm

    I was in high school. Being in Australia, I woke up on the morning of Sept 12th and it was all over the news. The words, “America Under Attack” made me think that some military base had been ambushed or something.

    I saw the footage of the planes over and over again throughout the day but it still took me many months to understand exactly how big this all was.

  30. Samantha Says: September 11, 2007 at 7:10 pm

    I was in my early 20s working at a major movie studio in LA at the time. That morning I was in the shower when the planes hit. I got out of the shower and the news was showing the first building with the plane and smoke streaming from it. Then I watched the second plane hit as I stood there in my towel with my hair dripping wet and I couldn’t breathe. The phone rang and it was my dad’s best friend calling, he was down at the base of the WTC, running through the rubble and couldn’t get through to his wife in Long Island, but he could get through to us, so we called her for him to tell her he was ok. He walked the whole way home. We got through on the phone to my aunt and uncle who were watching it all happen from their condo in the west village. For the next 6 months to a year after 9/11 they evacuated the studio I worked at numerous times, because all the studios in LA kept getting bomb threats and were on high alert.

    We found out about a day or so after 9/11 that my mother’s best friend was at a meeting at Windows on the World when the planes hit and she died. I spent my 21st bday at that restaurant drinking champagne with my aunt and uncle. I went to NYC for my 30th birthday 3 weeks ago and went to Ground Zero for the first time, because I have been too afraid to go down there until 3 weeks ago. I stared at my mother’s best friend’s name for a long time up on that wall/fence. She was the woman who fixed my parents up on a blind date so many years ago, so in many ways I owe my life to her. I love going to NYC and go often to visit friends and family, but I never wished I was in NYC more than the morning of 9/11…

  31. mikesgotnothin Says: September 11, 2007 at 8:23 pm

    What’s great about this Clink is reading everyone’s moment. It makes it real because all of our lives were interrupted like never before. I was in a staff meeting. We came out and heard the news. Nothing was the same after that. Though I was naive enough to think I would still fly out to KC to see a baseball game on the afternoon of the 12th.

  32. crystall Says: September 11, 2007 at 9:00 pm

    Doesn’t matter where I was, really, but I’ll tell you another story.

    In history class last year, I met a girl from New York. She could never talk about any part of it, especially in heated debate in class, without her lips trembling and tears spilling out of her eyes.

    9/11 didn’t really affect me. I didn’t mourn. I didn’t cry. But for that one moment I lived vicariously through her and to see her pain, I sort of understood.

    And I really can’t imagine beyond that.

  33. Tattler Says: September 11, 2007 at 10:14 pm

    I was away at college. The first thing I saw when I woke up was an e-mail from the Chicago Tribune with the subject “Attack on America.” It’s funny how denial works, because I didn’t believe it until I logged onto NYTimes.com. I thought it was a sick joke. I was in shock.

    The World Trade Center wasn’t just another landmark for me. I went to high school several blocks north of it. I had my college interview there, went on dates in the tree-lined Atrium, went shopping in the underground mall. I felt like I knew the victims too: the local newspaper where I interned over winter break sent me to cover several small memorial services.

    The craziest part? The most powerful emotion for me in the days following September 11 wasn’t grief. It was guilt. As crazy as it sounds, being away haunted me. Not that I could have done anything, but I still felt like NY was where I belonged on that day.

  34. pbandrazz Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:11 pm

    I was eating breakfast in my sorority house when I heard. I actually thought that it was a plane accident, not an attack (because who would attack us?). Then I went to my Group Communication class and learned the truth. My professor could barely stop crying to talk to us. I was just in a state of shock. I went through the rest of the day totally out of it and cou;dn’t wait to talk to my mom when she got off of work.

    To top it off, I had spent the entire morning whining that someone had taken my sorority-emblazoned flip flops (pre-knowing about 9/11). Puts things into perspective….

  35. americangirl Says: September 11, 2007 at 11:47 pm

    I was a freshman in high school. I walked into my english class, and the room was dark, everyone was silent, and watching a tv that someone had brought into the room. It took several minutes for me to figure out what was going on. I remember the shock of seeing the towers fall, and the terror when they announced that there was a plane flying off course and not responding (flight 93, of course). It was scary to really feel under attack.

    My dad works in the city, (I didn’t get in touch with him until late that night, but thankfully he was fine)and my mom is from New Jersey, so my parents knew so many people who lost their lives that day.

    I’m glad you got people talking about it, remembering. Even though it’s hard.

  36. cdp Says: September 12, 2007 at 4:56 pm

    Ok, I feel old now. Everyone was in college! Anyway. I’m late getting to this, sorry.

    I was at work. I was nine weeks pregnant. William was eighteen months old. We were incredibly busy and had no idea anything had happened until an insurance adjuster mentioned on the phone that there’d been some crazy plane crash at the WTC. So, we went online and of course, you couldn’t get to any news sites. We put rabbit ears on our little bitty conference room tv (we only use it for evidence videotapes) and saw the news. When we realized it wasn’t an accident, after the second plane hit, we all sat in stunned silence for a while.

    I picked up William from nursery school and went home and held him for the rest of the day. I will never forget that feeling of being so united in such an impregnable sadness.

  37. Alison Says: September 12, 2007 at 5:17 pm

    I was just getting off the M train on Wall Street right after the 1st plane hit. I worked on Wall & Water. All of these flaming bits of paper were falling down and the 1st thing I thought (because I worked in the construction industry) was “Holy Shit someone fucked something up”. I walked a little further (never thinking to just turn around) but the paper kept getting worse so I ducked into a nearby building for a minute and stood by the front doors. Then I got to work and found out what happened. My husband worked a few blocks away and after the 2nd plane hit, ran to my job so we would be together. We didn’t leave the city until 2pm. My boss wouldn’t let us leave. We walked to the Brooklyn bridge, took the buses that were provided for us to get over the bridge, got to Brooklyn and were picked up by a family member. It was something I will never forget. And the pictures I have from inside the pit (taken by guys I worked with when they went to help the next day)are something I will share with my son when he learns about this in school

  38. Ellie Says: September 12, 2007 at 8:46 pm

    Wow, what amazing and tragic stories. It was unbelievable to watch on TV in Australia and I just cannot imagine what it would have been like to have been in New York City that day.
    September 11 in Australia actually passed pretty uneventfully, because we’re 12 hours or more ahead of NYC? I don’t know the actual difference.
    Anyhow, Mum and I were both up watching the late news, waiting for it to finish so we could go to bed. It was nearing midnight, and * just * before it was going to finish, the newswoman said there’d been an accident and a plane had hit a building in NYC. She was perplexed by it, and stayed with it. A few minutes later we saw that the second plane had hit and Mum and I just looked at each other and knew that this was something big, something bad, that it wasn’t an accident. Sandra Sully - the newswoman - was the first newsperson to cover it in Australia, and was the only newsreader live at the time of the attacks. Ch. 10 stayed with it well into the morning of the 12th, and Mum and I stayed up til around 2am watching it. Of course, we were up early the next morning to see what was going on. There was a real sombre mood at school that day - I was in year nine - a real feeling that what had happened was so much more than just a plane going into a building.
    I can’t believe it has been six years, it still feels like yesterday. Seeing the pictures and hearing the stories six years later doesn’t make it any less raw and still brings knots to my stomach…

  39. kellymarie187 Says: September 21, 2007 at 1:48 am

    I’m a little late now, but I thought I’d still share, if that’s okay.
    I’m in Australia too, and I was 13 (year 9). My mum woke me up just after 6am on the 12th (our time) and said “I think you need to see this”. I was stunned… I got to school and we felt so isolated, like it wasn’t happening because we were so far away…
    We sat in our classes all day watching it, and we all sat there with our jaws on the floor - how could this be happening - and wondering what this meant for the future.
    It doesn’t feel like 6 years, to be honest. It seems like it wasn’t that long ago - probably how a lot of other people feel, especially in the US.
    It’s a day I will never forget.

  40. Meghan Says: December 12, 2007 at 4:14 pm

    Clink, I am WAY late for this post, but I still wanted to share (I’m always late, I was BORN late for cripes sake). Also, I believe this is a day that we should never forget, thus my story:

    I’m a native Pittsburgher, and even though my city isn’t too close to Shanksville, it still was too close for comfort, which caused wild rumors and mass chaos in our normally calm, friendly, city.

    I was a sophmore in college. Back then I commuted to class and did not watch the news or listen to the radio beforehand. True to charachter I was late for class. Campus was weird that day. Not too many people there, and LOTS of people on cell phones. I sat down in my chair and glanced at the tv, not noticing what was on. I turned around to my friend and asked her “if we were watching ANOTHER movie”. She looked at me and said, “Terrorists flew planes into the World Trade Center, I think we’re under attack.” I can’t even describe to you what I felt next. The day was full of rumors - terrorists at pittsburgh airport, and in our tunnels, that the U.S. Steel building was being targeted. Chaos insued. Downtown was evacuated. My mom said that people were nearly trampled while walking down the many flights of stairs when they evacuated her building. She was yelling at everyone to “walk slow, don’t push, don’t panic”. My dad’s work was on lock down - no one in, no one out. Neither of my parents arrived home that night until after 8 pm. I received frantic phone calls from friends who weren’t sure of the distance between Shanksville and Pittsburgh, and who had most likely heard the terrible rumors.

    I knew that day the world would never be the same.

Leave a Reply