In fifteen years, how much has changed?
Our way of life as Americans was altered on 9/11/01 and has remained something we adapt to every time we fly, if not something we notice at other, random moments in our lives.
Visitors to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York can reconnect with that Tuesday morning at 8:46 when the North Tower was struck and at 9:02 when thousands of us were watching as the South Tower was hit.
By 9:37 we learned that a plane had flown into the Pentagon.
Twenty-one minutes later, we were told that a plane somewhere east of Pittsburgh had been hijacked. Five minutes later we heard it disappeared.
Our collective breath stopped.
The South Tower collapsed at 9:59 and the North Tower at 10:28. We stayed stunned for a long time, bewildered that these massive structures disappeared in 10 seconds. In the time between these two obliterations, the Pentagon wall fell.
Grounding of air traffic.
By 9:42, all 4,500 airborne planes have been ordered to land. The continuing empty skies, contrails evaporated, were eerie. Too much like a Hollywood thriller to be real. It takes until 12:16 for the last plane to land. What was it like to be in the air that day?
Flight 93 and the Heroes Aboard.
Visiting the Flight 93 Memorial this month brings forth an array of emotions.
Itās good that thereās a two-mile drive from the highway to the Visitorās Center. You have time to disconnect from the trek to get to this rural spot near the tiny borough of Stoystown, population barely over 400 and to think about 9/11/01.
Your anticipation builds of both honoring the Americans who fought terrorism that day and knowing that you will not be able to maintain stoicism as you read about what happened and hear the voices relating stories.
The parking lot was overfull with cars, trucks, motorcycles and motorhomes spilled onto the flat grassy areas.
Forty people, the smallest number of casualties in one location that day. Yet their story, in its immediacy, had us thinking: What would I have done? Would I have been courageous enough to try to take over the plane, knowing that either way, death was most likely imminent?
The Visitorās Center is part of the flight path and as you walk to the observation deck, you can feel the trajectory of the plane.
Flight 93 Memorial Becomes Surreal
There is a long, descending, zigzagged path from the Visitorās Center to Memorial Plaza. As you walk, you contemplate what you learned viewing the Exhibits and ponder what you may feel at the Wall of Names.
The crash site, marked with a massive sandstone boulder, is the final resting place of the crew and passengers and is off limits to visitors. The families can go there for peace and solitude any time they choose.
If you continue the following loop back up to the Visitorās Center, you walk through the 40 Memorial Groves, planted in tribute to each of the passengers and crew.
9/11 is still impactful.
In total, that day, nearly 3,000 people died.
Think about a town that size and what if, within an hour, it was gone. All the people, all the buildings, gone.
Maybe what has changed is that some people are more aware of the living history that unfolds around us in the moment when itās happening.
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Hi Rose Mary, I thing that as Americans, 9/11 will be seared in the memory of all who were alive when it happened. It is one of those moments where you remember forever exactly where you were and what you were doing when you first heard what was happening. The memorial is a fitting tribute to those lives lost.
Susan, “seared” is a good word for the memories of that day. I hope we never forget.
Thanks for Sharing!
Unfortunately, a generation or so has to go through a tragedy like this. It must of been the same when my parents heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor. It can unite a people, but, the fault of humankind, is they forget.
Our daily lives take over, and the struggle of everyday life eventually snuffs out the memorial of a tragedy. We should never forget 911, but we should also remember it was more than just planes, or an attack on the US, it is about the people we lost on that day.
You’re right about people forgetting, William. I’m glad whenever we go to the Pearl Harbor Memorial to see a huge range of ages there. It’s good that parents are helping their children to know what Pearl Harbor was all about.
And 9/11–it was about the people. The people lost and the horrible people who did it. I will never understand.
Rose Mary — I was in my office in midtown Manhattan on 9/11. As an agency, we had two large TV monitors hanging on each end of the office. As soon as we got word of the first plane hitting one of the towers, we all were all glued to the TV. Finally at noon, we left and I walked home as there was no transportation. That was a horrible day which I’ll never forget. I’ve been to the 9/11 museum and it is one of the most beautifully designed and tasteful museums I’ve ever been to.
Jeannette, I can’t imagine being in Manhatten on that day. Being in a small city south of Pittsburgh was surreal enough…being in NYC had to be, well, a thousand different emotions.
The story of Flight 93 is something that we’ll never completely know, but it is amazing that these people were able to stop the hijackers from taking more lives. And they really are heroes. I moved from NYC six weeks before September 11, 2001. Back in July, 2001 I attended a lunch time concert series in the courtyard at the World Trade Center and it was such a beautiful, happy day. I still can’t put it together in my mind that all that horror happened there. Thanks for taking the time to honor that on-board flight 93. As the years pass, it is important to continue to honor them.
Erica, I can understand where it would be terribly hard to reconcile your concert experience with what happened such a short time later. Having been where the Memorial and Museum are now standing, it was hard to conceive of those massive buildings–and the others–having once been there.
And oh yes, the Flight 93 people were sure heroes.
It’s interesting that there’s so much publicity around the World Trade Centre and not nearly enough, I think, around this aspect of 9/11. Shudder to think what happened on that plane, and yes, what would I have done? Great post!
Thanks, Krystyna. This was a hard post to write on many different levels. The Flight 93 crew and passengers did an amazing and brave thing that day. I hope no one ever forgets.
Surreal is indeed the right word. A few years ago I made my first trip to NYC, and even made it to the outside of the 9/11 memorial. I saw the long line and just thought, “No, I can’t go through with this.” I value memorials and believe in their worth, but they can also stir up too much to handle when the event happened fairly recently. I went through with visiting Dachau, but there were times I had to step back and take very deep breaths.
Dachau, Jeri, would be particularly difficult and I admire that you were able to go through. Some years ago on a DC trip, we pre-arranged for tickets to the Holocaust Museum, toured the public areas and then looked at each other and said: Can’t do it.
The 9/11 memorial was extremely tough to get through, as were the exhibits at the Flight 93 site. All those emotions boil over and you just have to cave into them.
Thx for this important post, Rose. Let us hope and pray that it never happens again. I recently visited the Air India memorial in Toronto and was moved by it as well.
Doreen, thank you for posting about Air India. I have to admit that I don’t remember that event and looked it up. Hard to believe they would let one of the terrorists out of jail. Some things should not be. Me and my rose-colored glasses wish that we could live in the world that God intended rather than one filled with meanness.
Thank you for sharing this memorial. I haven’t had a chance to see it in person. These pictures are wonderful too. It was a sad day and weeks to follow. I remember it vividly because I was home with my little ones watching it unfold on TV.
I had to go back to work the next day, Sabrina, but we had the Internet news on every day that week and probably the next. Every evening we were glued to the news. It must have been difficult for your young kids to understand your emotions.
I must be honest, I don’t indulge in reliving 9/11 simply because it’s still too disturbing. Yes, it changed us all and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t remember vividly where they were at the time it dawned on us what was happening. I was waiting to board a plane for a business trip and was watching the TV in the lounge. It was amazing how quickly they moved to close and evacuate the airport. I know I’ll never forget – it’s just sad to see how little has changed for the better since that awful day.
I totally understand that, Marquita. I watched some of the segments Sunday night and realized it is all still so fresh in my heart, that I don’t need the reminders.
Agree: not enough has changed for the better. I don’t understand that!
What a tragic event this was. I cannot believe 15 years has passed. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.
I was in Florida at the time with friends and could not return home as they closed the airports. Though not scared, it certainly made me think about my life.
I’m sorry to hear you were stuck in Florida, Phoenicia. I remember at the time thinking about all those good travelers being stranded and wishing it could all be different for them.
A moving remembrance. I can well imagine a visit to Flight 93 Memorial would be very emotional. I was home from work with a cold on September 11, 2001. When something on the background radio made me realize something horrific was happened, I turned on the television and watched the news unfold with horror and disbelief.
Donna, horror and disbelief are still two things I feel about those events. I think we are not alone in using those words to describe our emotions that day. Evil done by evil people for no logical reason.
On 9/11 I lived and worked in Jersey City directly across the river from the World Trade Center. I was standing in the atrium of my office building watching when the second place hit. The single image that is embedded in my memory occurred later that day. I was on the riverfront in Jersey City helping other volunteers load supplies on boats for the people working at the site. Late in the afternoon some of the people who were working there started to come back. As one boat docked in Jersey City I saw a big rugged looking man with a hard hat who was probably a construction worker get off the boat and head toward us. As he got closer I could see he was exhausted, but I also saw tears streaming down his face.
Ken, it was difficult enough watching on TV when the second tower was hit. I cannot imagine seeing it in person. Disbelief is the biggest word–then and now, I think.
I also saw a construction worker that day, but completely different circumstances. I was driving home from work shortly after the towers collapsed and got stopped at a construction zone. I had tears pouring down my face and looked over at the worker near my window. It registered as soon as I started to go forward that he had no idea why this woman was crying. Apparently, no one had told them yet and no radios were on. It was startling to think that someone still didn’t know.
Thank you for honoring the crew and the passengers with this blog.
Thanks for reading it, Jackie, both before and after it was posted.
Beautifully written and the memories of seeing these attacks unfold come flooding back.
Thanks, Jamie. It took a long time to write this blog–I hope I have done the Flight 93 Memorial some justice.
Thanks for this… we will never forget!
No, Jacquie, I don’t think feeling, caring people will ever forget 9/11.