Monday, September 11, 2006

9-11-01: In Rememberance

It's hard to believe it has been five years since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

I remember that morning very well. I got up as usual and got ready and left for my Intro to Research class on the downtown campus. When I got to class I had just sat down and all of a sudden one of my classmates came in screaming "The world is going to Hell!" Now my initial thought was that this person was angry at a professor or somehow life was treating her unfairly(such is the life of a grad student). She then preceded to say that planes had hit the WTC and the Pentagon, which I thought that some radio station was pulling a prank or something stupid like that. The professor came in and said that we were going to continue with class in light of the events...the room was completely silent as the professor began the discussion when all of a sudden a fire truck drove by which jarred us out of the trance we all seemed to be in at that time. We finished with class and I was headed to work but first I had to run some copies of a paper I had to read and write a paper on for the next day. As I entered the Mountain Lair I was able to catch a quick look at the television and the mass of students huddled around watching. It was not till I got to work that I realized the severity of the situation. Not having a tv in the office we had it tuned to the local radio station which kept breaking into the national news reporting a "mysterious white plane" which was circling about 30 miles away. The work day went slow and I did not get any work done which was mostly me typing my paper which was due the next day. As soon as I got home I turned on the TV and running back and forth from the other room where I was typing my paper. I finally got to bed about 3 am or so with my paper finished and being both physically and emotionally drained. The next day I went to work and then to class. The first thing the professor said was "Due to the current situation I have decided to extend the paper due date by a few days". The following day I had my Research class again. The professor apologized for keeping us in class and said that if he had known the severity of the event he would have canceled class.

This spring I went to NYC and went to Ground Zero. It was a very humbling experience and it was like the time I went to the Holocaust meusem in Washington D.C., I just felt numb. We also went to the church right across from the street which was not damaged in the collapse and has been turned into a memorial.
All in all it was a very powerful experience and hope everyone has a chance at sometime to visit. I hope that we never forget what happend that day or the people who gave thier lives for their fellow man. I don't think that we will ever completely heal from the tradgedy of that day and that it should remind all of us of the many sacrifices that have been made.
-c

No comments: