|
|
Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning? |
|
|
9-11 Links Shattered (Time Magazine Photo Essay) September 11 Archived News Sites September 11 Timeline of Events President Bush's address to the nation on September 11, 2001 (Links below are from Mike's 9/11 Memorial Page) MOVIES
|
Interview of my friend, a 9/11 Survivor  1. Where were you on 9-11?Outside, a few blocks east of the WTC. Being on the east side actually prevented me from seeing the very worst of that day, although what I did see what hideous enough. 2. What is your most vivid memory of that day? There are so many, it's hard to say. The disbelief and uncertainty right after the North Tower was hit, before we even knew that it was a plane. It just seemed too "furious" and hot to be a regular fire, so I felt that it was something extraordinary, but I didn't know what.  I remember calling my father to let him know that there was a big explosion at the WTC, but that I was OK -- and then him hearing on the radio that it was an airplane. While we were talking, there were secondary explosions inside the North Tower and then little bits and slivers of glass fell on us. I also vividly remember watching people falling/jumping and just refusing to believe that it was happening.  Another strong memory is of running for my life when I was told that the South Tower was coming down (not realizing that it had collapsed into itself, I assumed that it either toppled or exploded and took out everything for blocks in every direction). The awful noise, the abject horror on so many faces and then trying to outrun that debris cloud. I remember wondering if I was about to die. And when I heard that awful, familiar rumbling again, I stopped to watch the North Tower just pancake downward, realizing that thousands of people were inside -- including people I knew. Sometime shortly after that, as I was walking uptown along South Street/East River Drive, I somehow got to talking with a shell-shocked guy who worked on the 9th floor of the North Tower and he wound up telling me every gory detail of what he saw on the way out. He also kept trying to walk back there, because he wanted to take the ferry back to New Jersey, so I had to keep pulling him back by his arm. 3. How did your life change as a result of what you saw or experienced?  PTSD. I didn't sleep for more than a year afterward (never more than a few hours a night). I feel as if I've lost a certain innocence and now realize that my neighborhood could really be blown up again, and maybe me with it next time. When I see footage on TV of terrorist attacks, I feel as if I know what it's like there -- the confusion, the horror, the mental disconnect as you don't want to believe that it's really happening, the fear, the smells, etc.  I guess it feels like my life is divided into pre-9/11 and post-9/11, in terms of experiences, perspectives, etc.4. When someone tells you that you need to "move on" how does that make you feel? Angry! Very few have said that to me, but the few who have been stupid and insensitive enough have felt my wrath. 5. Do you believe that most of America remembers? Why or why not? Hard to say. I think it goes along political lines -- those who remember are those who tend to  support the war against islamofascism and understand why we're doing it, and there are those who are stuck in the Clintonian mindset of "tit for tat," in that we wait until the terrorists hit us, and *then* we strike back...proportionately, of course (like bombing empty buildings in the middle of the night, to "make a statement")...and then call it even. 6. Is there anything that you, as someone who experienced the horrors of that day first hand, would like to say to the rest of us? Thank you to everyone who remembers and has prayed for us. Please keep the survivors of the 9/11 attacks in your prayers.
Thank you to the troops who have put themselves in harms way to ensure that this does not happen again on American soil. The men and women of the US Armed Forces are the best in the world, bar none. God bless you all!
|
|
|
|
||
