Remembering September 11th
Tuesday September 11 2007 marks the 6th anniversary of a dark day in human history. On that day, nearly three thousand people died as a result of terrorist attacks made on the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon, and the fourth plane that was brought down in a Pennsylvania field. (The photos of nearly all of those who died are memorialized in this collage.)
Years later, has the massive significance of this event started to wear off? Certainly it has not for those who were directly affected. Many people’s lives were forever changed that day. One of those lives is “Shoshy”s. Her son, an officer with the NYPD, was not on active duty that day. She thought her was safe but soon learned that he had made his way to the Trade Center as soon as he heard what had happened. She tells the story of her experiences during and after September 11th here. You can also watch a streaming video of her telling her story in her own words.
Do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you first heard the news six years ago? How will you remember these terrible events and all those who died on that day?
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I remember when my brother told me that a plane had hit one of the Towers in New York and that it was a big mess. My thoughts quickly went to my sisters daughter who was working in New York at the time. We later found out she was ok. Not long after 9-11 she came out to visit all her family, her aunts and uncles, everyone. She told us that she was at work that morning in her office building which was a mile and a half away from the twin towers on Manhatten Island. She said they heard an incredibly loud noise. They went out to the balcony and watched the smoking tower and saw the second plane plow into the other tower.
While driving her to her aunts place I asked her how she was handling it. She said she had been ok until one day as she was walking near her office in Manhatten and she walked by a women who was holding her little daughters hand. In the little girls other hand was a poster that she held up. It had a man’s picture on it along with the words “Has anyone one seen my Daddy”. My niece at that point said she lost it, and wept.
It makes us think, what’s important in life? Am I making a difference in others?
Can we combat such hate by loving our fellow man?
Has 9-11 made a difference in me?
I was getting ready to take my son to school when my husband called me into the den and I watched in disbelief. My heart started beating a hundred mph and because I have high blood pressure I felt dizzy caused by an acute headache. I closed my eyes and started praying that everyone make it out safely and to guide everyone there. I couldn’t have imagined that anything like that would ever happen here but it seems that bad people are everywhere in this world. People get killed all over the U.S….yes, not in this particular magniutde, but it makes me wonder what kind of world will be left for our children and our children’s children and so on. Everyday when I watch the news there’s something bad happening somewhere. God help and guide us all.
Thanks for posting
Very good
Have a good weekend
Wow,
Those stories are intense. I was in bed when my roommate came back from a run and told me to wake up, that New York was under attack. We spent the next few hours flipping between the channels, waiting for more information.
Sharon, can you please share more about your story?
I had just returned to school after 15 years of raising my family. I had started classes a week earlier and being around other, younger students was still painfully awkward. But there was something strangely uniting about 30 students huddling around that small TV in the staff room. Classes were cancelled for the remainder of the day as we all struggled to understand what this tragedy meant to each of us. Unbelief swept the crowd; some wept; some went home to try and phone family in New York. I stayed right there for most of the day, watching and re-watching the same clips and pictures of shattered lives as they unfolded before us. I knew, even then, that life would never be the same again.
I was just arriving at work at 7:00 AM here in California when I heard the news on the radio. In shock and disbelief I called home and told them to turn on the TV. I had my husband bring our little portable television to work so we could stay up on what was happening. I remember watching that last plane, the fourth one, when it wasn’t being televised yet what had happened to it. My daughter came to my work for lunch, unable to work any longer at her office. She didn’t know how we were able to keep going. I work in a hospital, and that’s what we do. We put one foot in front of the other and keep going.
It wasn’t until then next evening, on the news, when the pilot of Flight 93, that fourth plane, was casually announced that the shock hit home. The pilot was my daughter’s godfather.
We have had two of our three children, our son and our other daughter, enlist in the military and serve in Iraq. Our daughter went into Iraq in the early days of the war. She met her husband while serving in Iraq and they married and have two little daughters. The daughter who came to me ‘shell-shocked’ at work, married one of the men who served with our son, and welcomed a baby daughter last July.
Today, my husband is in Afghanistan, serving under NATO command, being recently reactivated from over 10 years retirement from the military.
Who could have foretold, that when we all went to work on September 11, 6 years ago, that our lives would be forever changed? I find myself in an unsettled spot today, between Jason’s death by terrorists September 11, 2001 and my husband being now in Afghanistan, where this all started.
I remember I had decided to sleep in that day and was in my bed in my dorm room at the small college I attended in Saskatchewan, Canada. Someone, I don’t even remember who, banged on my door and told me something about how there had been a terrorist attack in NYC and everyone from the States was trying to call home because no one knew if they would attck more cities. My family lives in Dallas, Texas and I remember trying to call them and not getting through. All sort of thoughts went through my mind. What if something else happened and I lost them? We all stood in the student lounge and watched the news reports. Classes were cancelled for the rest of the day and the chapel was opened up for peope to come and pray or talk to someone if they needed to. My most prevalent memory now is watching them play the news footage over and over and over again, you know the way news channels do. You feel so many emotions and then you think, how can I be feeling all this when I am so far away and my family is safe… what must the people who are right there be feeling? I read the story of the lady named Shoshy who was in NYC on 9-11. If you want to read it too here’s the link. http://thelife.com/lifestories/shoshy.html. There’s a video too.
Even 6 years later I think it makes you take a look at life… there’s no guarantee tomomorrow won’t hold another day like 9-11. I think that’s why the impact of that day has been so lasting: because it shattered our sense of security and made us come face to face with the fact that this kind of thing could happen at any time, on any day, and right where we live. My faith in God is the only thing that handle these kinds of deep fears and questions about life. It’s the only reason I don’t live in fear of what could happen on this earth.
[...] ** Do you remember where you were September 11? http://talk.thelife.com/2007/09/09/remembering-september-11th/ [...]
i was just finishing cleaning my kitchen from getting my grandchildren off to school the phone rang and afriend ask me if i was watching tv, not so nicely i said i didnt have time and it was not on i realized she was crying, i turned on the tv to see the most terifing thing in my life the second plane crash then igot a cll that our schools were in lock down. what a horroble felling i will never forget that day, my brother was on a busness trip an was stranded for 2 days, but thankfuly i lost no one that day. my heart still goes out tro all who did. forgive me for being so long. God bless to all
sharon
That unforgettable day in our Nation’s history was to be one in our personal family history as well. My beloved 50-year-young sister was in the last earthen days of battling breast cancer which had spread to her bones. Her local hospital intensive care where she’d been rushed.. called us to come quickly to her bedside to say goodbye as she was not expected to live through that day.
We’d left for the hospital early that morning before those unbelievable events happened ..We were shocked when we arrived at Intensive Care.. to the t.v. in her cubicle showing the horrifying images of the second plane hitting the building..All of this like scenes from a bad movie or nightmare.
Throughout that day we prayed for all involved..and laid hands on my sister who was in a coma for the Lord to touch her..She did awaken from that coma and lived beyond that day until November 17 precious extra days … She and we prayed for all those families whose September 11 will also never be the same. Our Great Heavenly Father and the “Comforter” present in so many ways and lives that unforgettable day. I will remember, always, the prayer throughout that Intensive Care floor by other families and hospital staff.. And? Each September 11 special prayers will always go up in rememberance of those precious lives and we will never forget the courage we all witnessed that day..and the beloved family members left behind.
As a family, we will never forget that unbelievable time in history, both national and pesonal..and how deeply we were touched by all the heroism displayed that day and since by those whose lives were forever changed. Thank you, dear Lord, for each and every one.
I was in eigth grade at the time and we had been pulled out of PE to go to the Health Science Room. A TV was in the middle of the room with “Breaking News” scrolling across the bottom. I soon learned that one jet had “accidentally” crashed into the WTC. I watched with disbelief as another jet crashed into the WTC, marveling at how the fireballs seemed to consume several stories at once. All I could hear around me was “Oh God!” and “Did you see that?!?!” A feeling of insecurity was now evident in the room: the United States was being attacked, and it was the first time our group of classmates had witnessed it for ourselves.
Me, my Mom, my sister, an aunt and a family friend were flying home from England where we had celebrated my Mom’s 72nd birthday on the 9th. We were diverted to Nova Scotia for three days before we were able to fly home to North Carolina. We try to remember those on our flight that we made lifelong friendships with and those in Canada that made our unexpected visit an extremely welcomed one. Our hearts will forever be saddened by the loss on that day.
Well I still cannot believed it happened omg how terrifying ! I live in Australia and everyone was mortified by that day I remember my hubby waking me up telling me something has happened in the USA and im like what is he talking about .. then when I seen the TV screen it took a bit too comprehend what had actually happened it was so huge the scale of 2 planes flying into the twin towers hmm
Our son who was 5 at the time was drawing a plane smashing into a building his way of comprehending what was happening
I mean why on earth it happened is any ones guess but its just awful for all the families who lost loved ones who were there in the buildings or in the planes and the fire fighters as well and whoever else was in the area… just so sad…
My son still remembers that day and he was only 5 at the time now he is 11 … he asked us today why did they fly into the buildings ?
I said they were selfish people and yes it is selfish to do what they did …
I mean the whole world was affected by Sept 11 , 2001 as the magnitude was so impacting upon modern society as people were too afraid to fly and it scared alot of people ! There was no fun in it at all for any body and how dare these people say they are doing it for Ala or what ever his name is ! Its pure evil and hatred is what they did on that day killing people and hurting so many is wrong