When I was a little kid, I remember thinking that it was strange that people remember where they were when certain events took place... JFK's assassination, Pearl Harbor, etc. ... but couldn't remember why they walked into the kitchen. I remember where I was when Reagan was shot and when the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded. And I definitely remember 9/11.
Around 5:55 am PST on September 11, 2001, I had just finished showering, and was drying my hair. Usually John was in bed just listening to the radio news while waiting to take me to the BART station so I could go to work in San Francisco. This day was different. I looked behind me in the mirror, and saw him sitting on the edge of the bed watching television.
"Weird," I thought. Then I yelled, "What's so interesting?"
He replied, "A plane crashed into one of the WTC towers. I'm not sure if it's a hoax or an accident."
I yelled, "Probably an accident," and continued to dry my hair.
Then I heard, "Holy shit! Another plane hit the second tower!!"
I put the hair dryer down and walked over to him and said, "This isn't a David Copperfield trick."
That day, I didn't go to work. I sat in front of the TV, watching numbly as the third plane crashed into the Pentagon, and fourth plane crashed into that field in Pennsylvania.
John and I speculated that perhaps the fourth plane was a fluke, but later learned it was not. He spent the day listening to the news, searching the internet, and going to work at Berkeley. He held class but didn't teach that day... he and his students who showed up just talked about what was happening.
I called my parents and brother, who live about 90 miles from DC. They were as dumbstruck as I was. I hated being away from them more than ever.
What happened in the days that followed was nothing short of amazing. I witnessed the country coming together, politics were put aside for a short while, and people stopped being petty. The American Flag was seen everywhere... patriotism was the highest I've ever seen. People were kind.
I learned about the heroic measures people took to save people, or even just to save themselves. I watched video clips, listened to the news, and actually sat on the edge of my seat as the President spoke. I learned of the families that were left behind, the kids who lost their parents. I was in awe of the passengers on Flight 93 who tried to orchestrate a counterattack that ended up crashing that plane into that PA field.
I'm not a fan of offensively attacking others. Admittedly, I was somewhat relieved when we attacked Afghanistan. Toby Keith wrote(?) and sang a song that captured what seemed to be the sentiment of the nation at that time ("Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue.") And later Alan Jackson wrote a song about it that made me teary ("Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning.")
About a year later I was working in San Ramon, CA. I was so happy to see that they changed one of the street names to honor Tom Burnett, one of the passengers on Flight 93. He was from San Ramon, and left behind his wife and three little girls.
I'll never forget where I was that day. It seems like yesterday.
#September112001
#wherewereyouwhentheworldstoppedturning
#itisstillsurreal
#neverforget
#letsroll
