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#2423 | Thursday, September 12th, 2002
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I woke up early in the moring to get ready for school and my older brother turned on the T.V and we were changing when he put it to the morning new. ounce i saw one of the twin towers whit a plain on it's side i was very shock. we woke up our mom because on the bottom of the screen it was saying what schools and jobs were still going on. we saw our mom's work name on the bottom and so she called up her work because she works on military grounds so she was calling her boss and asking him if she needs to tell evryone to still come to work or just say home for the day.
Me and my brother went to school and there were a lot of people in school so shock of what had happend that morning, some people didn't even know till other student told the about the incident that had happend.
Couple days later the US were getting a lot of background about what has happend, who has done it, and if we were going to war. I wish we were going to find Bin Laden and that we couldn't go to war because i have family memebers thats in the force.
Well ever since that day everything has changed in my life. I couldn't go out for a few months and if i go out i have to be with my parents, i guess that they were scared that they were going to attack us again but this time were we live. I understood why they were doing this but i got mad that i couldn't go out with my friend, Oh-well.
This is what i could say of the day everything has changed in my life and that nothing would ever be the same.
God Bless America...
Oh yah... Our Colors don't Run.
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James | 16 | Hawaii
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#2424 | Thursday, September 12th, 2002
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This day still makes me feel a little bit creepy. Back in those days I used to work as a Flight Attendant for a portuguese airline (AIR LUXOR). And during the Summer 2001 we were having 3 flights a week LISBON (PORTUGAL) to JFK and NEWARK.
I was in the last flight crew. As the plane returned to Portugal, we stayed in Newark resting and we were returning to Lisbon (in a TAP AIR PORTUGAL flight) during the 10th September afternoon. I was with my wife, Sara, who was also my colleague, and I remember crossing a bridge towards JFK Airport as we saw Manhattan, and the Statue of Liberty, and I said: "Look Sara, this is all we get this year. You know... I'm already missing those walks downtown through ChinaTown, TriBeCa, SoHo. And look the Twin Towers, the ...".
Ten minutes later a car crashed into the van that was carrying us to the airport. We stayed still in a traffic jam for a long time and when we arrived at the check-in it was closing. We were the last 10 people to check-in.
The next morning at home, watching those images I wondered what could have happened to me if had stayed there. As we had the car crash and were thinking about losing the flight, we were planning to climb the WTC the next day. Everyday in the Summer 2001 when I was in NY, we stayed in Newark and we used to take the train to the WTC station, where we were used to arrive about 8.30/9.00 in the morning and have breakfast near the station exit.
Was it luck, was it God. I think will never know. But one thing I know. I WILL NEVER EVER FORGET THOSE TWO DAYS AND HOW THEY COULD HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE.
God bless you all and that those who deceased rest in peace forever and in our hearts.
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Gonçalo | 24 | Portugal
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#2425 | Thursday, September 12th, 2002
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I was at work when the phone rang. It was my mother who was at home watching the news and she said...an airliner just hit the WTC. I said, an accident? She said they didn't know yet. As we were on the phone, the other airliner hit and all she could say was oh my God.....oh my God. We stayed on the phone and then she said there was news about an airliner that had crashed in PA....she said that couldn't be related..could it? I said they had better watch Washington DC and she said surely Washington wouldn't let anything into their airspace. And then the Pentagon was hit. I will never forget the images on TV...the horror...staring at it in disbelief. It seemed like a movie instead of real life. I didn't know anyone in the towers or at the other two sites...but I know of people who were directly affected by knowing someone. It wil never be forgotten. And I pray each day for America and the President. God be with us all.
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Karen | 35 | North Carolina
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#2426 | Thursday, September 12th, 2002
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Today I spent the day at home, and deliberately did not watch TV. I drove out to Long Island on an errand and listened to the radio in the car. NPR had some interesting programs. Tonight I went to a commemorative program at my
synagogue.
The tragedy is never far from my mind, today and every day.
My apartment faces south on Houston Street and from every room I could see
the twin towers. I miss them. Not that I enjoyed the architecture, but I miss
the mood in that neighborhood. I remember walking by the towers every day, at least twice a day, when I worked downtown at different jobs. I remember seeing the rush of people exiting the PATH, subway and express busses. The vendors in the farmer's market, the paintball flyer guys in their flak jackets. I miss the smell of ambition and money in the air.
That day, I was walking the 1.5 miles to work, as usual, but I left a bit
later. Before I got to Canal Street, I looked up and saw a plane directly
overhead. "God, that plane is flying awfully low," I thought to myself. Then
I saw it enter 1 WTC.
I kept walking. Like an automaton. At Canal, I saw the laborers standing and
staring south at the building and the smoke. "I can't believe that building
is still standing," I said to someone near me. I had already seen a fire
truck racing past on Canal Street.
I headed down Church Street, debating "should I go in or go back, go in or go back" and plodding on my route. I worked at 130 Liberty Street, at Deutsche Bank, on the south side of the street of 2 WTC. I was at about Park Place when a crowd of people came rushing toward me, panicky, as if in a movie.
"Go to the park!" someone shouted, so I went east to City Hall Park, thinking
that if a building came down, or there was gunfire, there was more open space
there than on Church or Broadway.
Still I kept walking. Now I could see 2 WTC was on fire. I went to Nassau, to
get away from the crowds on Broadway. Should I call the office? People were
fiddling with their cell phones, but not one was working.
It was 9:30 and I was at Sym's on Trinity, a bit south of my office. I met two women from my department who told me the building was evacuated. (Amazing that I could meet anyone I knew in that crowd and chaos.)
"OK. That's it. You saw me here. I'm going home. Anyone want to come with me? I live a half-hour away." "No thanks, we'll wait it out here and see what to do." (They took the ferry to Staten Island and spent the night there at a colleague's house.)
I took the non-Broadway route back until I got to Worth Street. As I headed north on Broadway to Canal, I saw cars stopped in the street. Their doors were open, their windows were down. Their radios were blasting the all-news stations so everyone in the street could hear. People waited patiently in line at the phone booths. (How were they working?) Many, many people were heading uptown. At Canal, a policeman said the subways were working north of Canal, but by then I was 8 minutes from home.
When I entered the lobby of my apartment building, it was 10:00. Someone said the WTC had fallen. I walked out and looked. Sure enough, there was only one tower there.
At home, I had no phone service. I went to my computer and copied the email
addresses of my family members. I went to the library, logged on and sent an
email to my parents, siblings, husband and daughter at college: Subject "I'm
OK from Janet."
I told them in detail what I had seen. I waited for replies. After a while, I
received an email from my daughter. She had once visited my office and knew
exactly how close it was to the WTC. Then I heard from my sister. She called
my mother, who was talking to my brother, who worked on Hudson below Canal and somehow had cell phone service. The magic of call waiting united the three of them. They knew I was safe.
I gave my sister my husband's phone. I didn't know which would reach him
first, email or voice mail, since he goes in and out of the office when
teaching classes. Eventually, our daughter in high school got through to him and learned I was OK.
That night, 20 large dump trucks were parked on Houston Street near my
building. They were waiting for instructions. It was clear where they were headed.
In the morning, they were gone. I saw three workers in hard hats walking
south. "Are you going down there?" I asked. I didn't have to say where
"there" was. We all knew. They ondded. "Be careful."
What do I do differently?
Whenever I talk to my daughters at college on the phone, I tell them I love them before I hang up. You never know.
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Janet | 49 | New York
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#2427 | Thursday, September 12th, 2002
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I was at home. I actually first heard of the trajedy unfolding by news brief on the internet. I then turned on the TV and saw the devastation after the first plane had hit. And, then all the commotion and the increased level of fear when this was seen as deliberate with the crash of the second jet into the towers. Actually, I was numb and still am. Even though I can intellectually wrap my hands around this event, can rationalize all the reasons why anyone would do such a thing, emotionally I am raw. We continue each day as the last, but still come up short for the why's. As a devout Christian, I find myself doubting where my God is in all of this. But, that is good. It means I am still working through this. Our church had a small gathering yesterday evening. It was in contrast to the big event in this small town. People listening and conversing with people. No crowds to get lost in. Friends with friends. My continued prayers to all that have lost so much in this trajedy.
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William | 53 | Ohio
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