Where were you?

Today is the 10th anniversary of the tragic terrorist attacks that struck our nation on September 11, 2001.    There has been a lot in the news lately about the families affected and their stories.  Many have asked, "Where were you when it happened?"

I was a college student at Iowa State University and only had classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  Tuesday and Thursday I worked at the Seed Science Laboratory on campus.  September 11, 2001 was a Tuesday.  My roommate, Megan, knocked on my door that morning shortly after my alarm had gone off telling me to turn on my tv.  I sat on my bed for what felt like a long time and watched the Today Show replay of the first plane hitting the north tower of the World Trade Center in New York City.  Just a few moments later, a plane crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center.  Maybe it's from all of the media coverage that we still see today, but I can still picture the plane headed for the second tower, the fire and implosion from it hitting, all of the debris - dust, building pieces, paper - flying through the air. 

I was glued to the tv but knew I needed to get to work.  I drove to the commuter parking lot and boarded the CyRide bus to campus as I had done every other day.  The bus was packed, which was normal for a route at a quarter-til the hour.  Shortly after the front doors closed and we pulled away a girl standing near me received a call on her cell phone.  She was ecstatic to hear the person's voice on the other end and after a very quick conversation, she hung up and told another bus-rider that it was her sister.  She worked at the World Trade Center but had an appointment and had planned on going to work later that morning.  I had goosebumps for this stranger and her sister.  While enroute to work, a plane had crashed into the Pentagon and the White House had been evacuated.  All aircraft was grounded across the U.S.

As I expected, there was a somber tone at the lab that day.  The normal buzz of student workers talking about classes, plans for that evening or weekend and funny stories was null.  The usually quiet background of a radio playing was overruled by a much louder news radio that was continually updating the happenings across the country.   I remember hearing that the South Tower had collapsed and wondering how many lives had been sacrificed of those that worked in the building, unable to escape.  And what about all of the fire and rescue workers who had rushed INTO the building when everyone else was rushing OUT?  I felt numb and sad.  Just a few moments later there was a news report of another plane crashing in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  About a half hour later the North Tower collapsed.  There was buzz around the lab of who would have organized such a terrible thing and I remember hearing some of the (full-time, permanent) adult staff talking about bin Laden.  I was so out of the loop in world affairs that I thought the person they were talking about was named Ben Laden -- NOT Osama bin Laden.  I'd never even heard of him but that was about to change.
My boss visited with me for a little while before lunch and told me if I wanted to go home early that day I could.  I don't remember if he told everyone that or if somehow he could see how shaken I was.  I took him up on the offer and went back to my apartment to watch the devastation over and over. 

There are several things that will stick with me forever...
- The image of the hundreds and hundreds of posters with people's faces that were missing. 
- The photos from Ground Zero days and weeks after the attacks of the inches of dirt and dust that littered the streets, the smoke and fires that were still burning in the rubble and I imagined the loved ones buried there that would never be found.
- The stories of the people on the flights, especially those on Flight 93 who counter-attacked the takeover of their plane and crashed it in a field instead of what is imagined the destination of Washington, D.C.  As well as the stories from victim's families... the children left without a parent, or sometimes both parents... the pregnant women who gave birth after 9/11 and those babies (now 10 years old) who will never know their fathers. 
- I'm humbled by the spouses, parents, children and friends of the victims who chose to forgive and honor their loved ones in symbolic ways by choosing to help others. 
When I hear Alan Jackson's Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning) I remember...

September 11, 2001 - EDT
8:46 a.m. Hijackers crash American Airlines Flight 11 into floors 93 through 99 of the World Trade Center's north tower.
9:03 a.m. Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 78 through 84 of the World Trade Center's south tower.
9:37 a.m. Hijackers crash American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon's western facade.
9:42 a.m. The Federal Aviation Administration grounds all flights over or bound for the continental United States for the first time in U.S. history.
9:59 a.m. After burning for 56 minutes, the south tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
10:03 a.m. Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 93 in a field in Shanksville, Pa., to prevent passengers who mounted a counterattack from retaking the airplane. The crash site is approximately 20 minutes' flying time from Washington.
10:28 a.m. After burning for 102 minutes, the north tower of the World Trade Center collapses.
8:30 p.m. President George W. Bush addresses the nation: "Today our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts." The death toll will eventually stand at nearly 3,000, including the 19 hijackers.
Timeline from Time magazine.


**Additional thoughts in the day following 9/11...  We've been watching some of the anniversary specials and first-hand accounts of survivors and family members.  I wonder how many stories will never be told? 

Lucas saw footage of the plane burning in the first tower and asked what happened.  How on earth do I explain to Lucas that there are bad people in this world who do bad things, without scaring him? 

I hardly know what else to say lest I trivialize such a horrible event in our nation's history. Mere words become cliches in the face of such courage and bravery of the passengers, flight crews, fire fighters, first responders and people who were in the towers and surrounding buildings and streets that day.  I pray for them and their families.