The second tower of the World Trade Center bursts into flames after being hit by a hijacked airplane, September 11, 2001
*REUTERS/Sara K. Schwittek
Twenty years – I remember it as if it were twenty minutes ago – the day the world stood still – September 11th, 2001. That day not only affected the United States but even those remote villages in Africa felt our sorrow.
At one time, I sponsored a little boy who lived in a very small village in Africa. About a week after 9-11-01 happened, I received a letter from the little boy’s family. Enclosed in a large envelope along with that letter was a sympathy card that expressed their sorrow at what happened in the United States that day. I had two sisters who lived in Georgia who came to Perth Amboy in June 2001 to attend a graduation. Unfortunately, one of my sisters became very ill and had to be hospitalized shortly after they arrived. She was in the hospital until at least early October, and I would go and see her every day. The day that the attack happened was very eerie due to the fact that when I walked into the main entrance of the hospital, there were cots all over waiting for those who were injured in the attack at the World Trade Center. I had mentioned this in another September 11th editorial, but it still is fresh in my memory and how somber the atmosphere was. As I said before, it was hope against hope that someone would come in to fill in one of those beds, but it didn’t happen. All those who were blessed enough to be able to run away and get out of the building before it collapsed were covered in grey ashes. You couldn’t tell what ethnicity they were. People were running, holding hands helping people who had fallen to pull them out of danger. We were as one. So many people were united. Some civilians also risked their lives to help out.
If you looked at all the cars lined up, and then think about all the commuter cars in parking lots of train and bus stations whose owners worked at the World Trade Center. The owners never came back to claim those cars because their owners had perished.
When the first plane hit the first tower, a lot of people were not even aware of it. Evacuation orders were not even given. At the time, many people did not know exactly what kind of aircraft hit the building.
When all the reports came back on the Pentagon, the Pentagon was also hit. People knew we were at war.
We remember the brave heroes of the plane that went down in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
People were stuck at their destinations, at airports with no way to get home. Even if you had your own private vehicle, you were prevented from traveling freely. All the bridges, tunnels, trains, busses, ferries- all were closed down. In the essence: our grid was shut down. Those who were not in the area of the World Trade Center had trouble getting home. Some people didn’t know when they would see their family members again. The cell phone towers some of the landlines were down. Commerce stopped as transportation came to a halt. Any aircraft that was still in the air whether commercial or private had a timeline to land or they would be shot down. The air traffic controllers had to scramble to make sure all the aircrafts in the air had landed. People were anxious: when were we going to get hit next?
Some people have moved on, remarried, left the tri-state area, and began a whole new life. 9-11-01 was a gamechanger for so many people. It caused many people to rethink their careers, goals, lives, their relationships, and what is really important. If I knew I only had a certain timeframe to live, how would I spend it?
Wherever you are, there are still reminders of that fateful day because of the memorials that were erected to those who died that day. Although I didn’t know anyone personally who perished that day, whenever I watch the ceremony in New York, I get very emotional. Sometimes people reading the names of those who died were not even born yet when the towers went down.
Until the day I die, I will always remember that day.
Carolyn M.
In Memoriam: New York City, 9/11/01 *unsplash.com
