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9/11 was different -not like Pearl Harbor, where you heard of the attack and knew what happened. 9/11 was a drip, drip, drip that went from curiosity to uncertainty to disbelief to horror to abject terror over hours. So, tell your "where was I" story step by step so that the.../1
...people who are now adults but who were too young to know what was going know what made it so terrible was not simple. It was not "the planes struck, the towers fell." It was so much more, a slow motion descent into hell. So please, tell your story so people can understand.../2
...this is mine. When I dropped my youngest off at pre-school, his teacher mentioned a plane had struck a WTC tower. I immediately thought of the 1920s, when a small plane accidentally struck the Empire State Building. I thought it was odd that history had repeated itself../3
..in my car, I flipped on NPR. The broadcast was about how, in the past week, security had been upped massively at American military bases and people were complaining. (Now, I know, actions being taken based on warnings of an impending threat of attack). I figured it couldn't...4
...be a big deal, that it had to have been a small plane, because otherwise this would be the top news. I drove home and decided to flip on the TV. I saw the smoke pouring out of the building, realized, wow, that plane really struck. I did not see the 2nd plane hit, but I saw...5
...the explosion, and was stunned. I thought something blew up in the first building into the second. Then, very quickly, I heard there was a second plane. It was around then that it got through my head that the first had been hijacked.
At that moment, I knew it was al Qaeda...6
At that moment, I knew it was al Qaeda...6
...i had done work on the terror group, interviewed people and read a lot of records. I knew they loved to strike in twos - one hit, then another. Thats what they did with the East African embassies. I knew they were obsessed with the WTC. And I also knew they had planned in.../7
...the past to attack schools with explosives & machine guns. I ran out and jumped in the car. My kids were at school. Theyd be safe at home, but there was no telling if schools were safe. I had to go to three schools. At each, I spoke to the heads about the potential danger.../8
...the head of one school thought I was being ridiculous, but I took all my kids home anyway. I did not turn on the radio in the car, because I didnt want them to know what was going on. At home, I sent them to play and went back to the TV. By then, I think, the Pentagon had.../9
...been struck. I was so relieved I followed my instincts and got my kids, cause I felt sure there were more attacks coming. Soon came word that people were falling or jumping or being blown out of the buildings. People were falling/jumping from the top of World Trade Center...10
...that was the most horrifying moment of all. I started sobbing. As I sat there, I knew, people were falling 107 floors, almost a third of a mile, and being obliterated at the bottom. I kept thinking of the falling, the falling. People falling even as I cried....11
...then, blank. My memory just ends for awhile. I dont know if I was just overwhelmed or what. I just knew this couldn't get any more horrifying.
And then the first tower fell. I screamed as I watched. Thousands, I believed, were screaming, being crushed, as I watched. I.../12
And then the first tower fell. I screamed as I watched. Thousands, I believed, were screaming, being crushed, as I watched. I.../12
...couldnt handle it. I didnt know what to do. I shut off the TV. I thought of going to hold my kids, but knew Id scare them. So I sat, and stared. A short time later, I decided I had to know what was happening, and so I turned on TV. I watched. And then the 2nd tower fell.../13
...I couldnt handle more. I turned off the TV, feeling guilty at separating myself from carnage, from mass death, but I was emotionally overwhelmed. After I pulling myself together, I went to play with my kids. We played Thomas the Tank Engine.
And that's my 9/11 story.
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And that's my 9/11 story.
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