In Memoriam: 9/11/01

September 11.

I was driving to work that morning, listening to my mix CDs as usual. Stalled in traffic, I realized that everyone was tuned into NPR. Strange, I thought, but didn't give it another consideration.

Heath called me just as I was walking in to the church. He said, "An airplane just crashed into the World Trade Center." It didn't register at first. I saw Paul, one of the pastors, coming out of the office and smiled at him. He seemed so solemn and in a hurry to get somewhere.

"What did you say?" I asked Heath.

"Turn on the radio. This is unreal."

So I did. And I sat in my office in shock and awe at what I was hearing. One of the office ladies told me that the staff was gathering in room 200. I went. The TV was on, and I saw the images. The second tower had just been hit. I couldn't believe what was happening. One of the girls had family in New York City, and she was beside herself with worry.

We prayed and prayed and prayed. I was told to put a notice on the website about a prayer meeting that evening, then everyone was to go home. So I did. And I picked up my lunch and purse, which had barely been set down, and drove home in a daze, now listening to NPR as well--just like everyone else that day.

On this, the 10th anniversary, I wanted to remember September 11 by looking back on the journal entry that I vividly remember writing on that day in 2001. I was sitting on the couch, listening to the radio broadcast because I couldn't bear to watch the news footage. Tears streaming down my cheeks, I wrote this.



9-11-01 (Another date that will "live in infamy"?)

I just want to go to sleep and pretend none of this ever happened. Today, the twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed due to the hijacking of two planes. A Boeing 767 and 757 (I think) each crashed into the sides of the towers within 15 minutes of each other.

Forty minutes later, another plane deliberately crashed into the Pentagon building in Washington DC. The Pentagon! A symbol of our nation! I am still in shock by it. The whole of Manhattan seems to be in rubble. Just a little while ago, the building next to the south tower collapsed because when the others went down, they pretty much landed on top of it.

It's like a nightmare. Things like this aren't supposed to happen. At least they aren't supposed to happen in America. I don't even want to go on with the descriptions I've heard on the radio.

One thing that sticks in my mind is when I turned on AM 740 this morning right after Heath said to turn on the news, a report came on from someone that after the planes hit, there were people jumping from high-story windows. They were on fire or getting away from smoke or just trying to end it sooner. I can't imagine what those people must have been going through.

I don't have the energy or desire to write about this right now. I think I may still be in shock. I want to run and hide from it, but I can't. This thing is so far away, yet I feel a responsibility to care. How could anyone not care? There is a community prayer time at church tonight. Maybe some rest can be put into my heart there.

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To quote Thomas from his message this morning: "When evil raises its voice, God always has the final word." Instead of disunity, 9/11 brought us together as a nation. People were loving on each other, being kinder, sharing in communal grief in the wake of a national tragedy that united us--if only for a time.