It still hurts today...
Posted 09-11-2008 at 06:53 PM by LuvMyIS350
I didn't see any threads about it, though it sticks in my thoughts all day. I will always remember September 11th as long as I live. I was at my desk, my boss was on vacation, and I was just doing paperwork. I got a frantic phone call from my ex-bf to turn on the tv and watch. I went into my boss' office to see the first tower burning. I couldn't believe my eyes...the information incoming would not compute. How, with all my knowledge of aviation, could an airplane crash into the World Trade Center when the weather was severe clear? How could anyone miss it? Then, as I was watching CNN, I saw another airplane hit. WHAT?! What's happening? Did I just watch hundreds of people die IN THAT MOMENT? I couldn't believe that I saw those people die in real time on TV. I couldn't imagine being a relative of a worker in the 2nd tower and seeing that happen. I stood there, lost. I couldn't imagine this.
The media started calling with our reaction--I told them I couldn't talk. My boss was calling me from Vermont asking what was being done. Nothing yet, I told him. I then heard on CNN that the national airspace was closed. No take-offs or landings, period. Everyone was to stay where they were no matter what. All the rental cars were rented in our terminal as soon as people figured it out...everyone just wanted to get home to their families. I still couldn't shake the images of people jumping to their deaths because of the fire, because they had no way to get down. Some people even crawled outside their windows and tried to let themselves down little by little down the building until they lost their grips. I was too stunned to cry, too stunned to talk, too stunned to think. All of the news we airports got was from the TV...the FAA was too busy trying to figure out what was going on to talk to any of us. Any communications that we would get about security and closing our airports would be given via fax. Our fax machine used a whole ream of paper in less than 8 hours. We had to lock everything down, we had to push everyone out of the terminal, we had to close to everyone but employees. The media was given interviews by me in place of my boss. He, in the meantime, was trying to get back to south Texas, but he couldn't find a rental car in the Northeast at all. He was frantic, but there wasn't much he could do. We were all handling things without him. We were given a check-list by the FAA of things to do...I don't even remember what they were, but there was a list of 24 things. We had to do all 24 things and then fax a statement back to the FAA telling them that we had done them. To this day, I don't remember a single item on that list. It was surreal.
When the towers collapsed, another dumbfounded numb period began. What? How could the strongest buildings of commerce be that weak? How could anyone be alive in all that rubble, smoke, glass, and debris? How could this happen? Who could do this to us? The questions ran through my mind over and over. How will that city ever be the same? How would we ever be the same?
I cannot imagine being in NYC on that day. I've been watching programs all week on the History Channel which are showing footage that I've never seen, some of it is so graphic that I can't even imagine it. There were people hitting the canopies when falling from the buildings. The deadening thumps are something that I will never forget.
Unfortunately, I saw a report online today that says that virtually no one believes that terrorism will happen in the US in the near future or that terrorism is a big concern anymore. That to me is insane. Are we going to sit here as a sitting duck while we wait for more Islamic radicals to topple us? It's a shame that after 7 years we've already moved on. It's something I'll never comprehend.
It will happen again...it may not happen in my little itty-bitty city, but it will happen. How sad our world has become.
Rest in peace my friends. I'll never forget.
The media started calling with our reaction--I told them I couldn't talk. My boss was calling me from Vermont asking what was being done. Nothing yet, I told him. I then heard on CNN that the national airspace was closed. No take-offs or landings, period. Everyone was to stay where they were no matter what. All the rental cars were rented in our terminal as soon as people figured it out...everyone just wanted to get home to their families. I still couldn't shake the images of people jumping to their deaths because of the fire, because they had no way to get down. Some people even crawled outside their windows and tried to let themselves down little by little down the building until they lost their grips. I was too stunned to cry, too stunned to talk, too stunned to think. All of the news we airports got was from the TV...the FAA was too busy trying to figure out what was going on to talk to any of us. Any communications that we would get about security and closing our airports would be given via fax. Our fax machine used a whole ream of paper in less than 8 hours. We had to lock everything down, we had to push everyone out of the terminal, we had to close to everyone but employees. The media was given interviews by me in place of my boss. He, in the meantime, was trying to get back to south Texas, but he couldn't find a rental car in the Northeast at all. He was frantic, but there wasn't much he could do. We were all handling things without him. We were given a check-list by the FAA of things to do...I don't even remember what they were, but there was a list of 24 things. We had to do all 24 things and then fax a statement back to the FAA telling them that we had done them. To this day, I don't remember a single item on that list. It was surreal.
When the towers collapsed, another dumbfounded numb period began. What? How could the strongest buildings of commerce be that weak? How could anyone be alive in all that rubble, smoke, glass, and debris? How could this happen? Who could do this to us? The questions ran through my mind over and over. How will that city ever be the same? How would we ever be the same?
I cannot imagine being in NYC on that day. I've been watching programs all week on the History Channel which are showing footage that I've never seen, some of it is so graphic that I can't even imagine it. There were people hitting the canopies when falling from the buildings. The deadening thumps are something that I will never forget.
Unfortunately, I saw a report online today that says that virtually no one believes that terrorism will happen in the US in the near future or that terrorism is a big concern anymore. That to me is insane. Are we going to sit here as a sitting duck while we wait for more Islamic radicals to topple us? It's a shame that after 7 years we've already moved on. It's something I'll never comprehend.
It will happen again...it may not happen in my little itty-bitty city, but it will happen. How sad our world has become.
Rest in peace my friends. I'll never forget.
Total Comments 7
Comments
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I considered blogging about this. I work for TSA and in honor of 9/11, we switched over to new uniforms. When I came home from work, I saw people with signs that said "America will never forget."
I wish that were true. And you're right. Most people have deluded themselves into believing that they're not only safe, but that something like that will never happen again. I think it's a great disrespect to the people who died that day.
Our world is indeed sad in more ways than one.Posted 09-11-2008 at 08:33 PM by 03elleinad
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My heart's still with the victims, their family and friends, and rescuers of 9/11.Posted 09-11-2008 at 09:40 PM by HunnieBee
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there is a thread about this, and as i responded in there, i shall here. i can't read all of this. it is hard to process and digest what happened.
i can't deal with the emotions of this right now. if i do, i will end up very sick. it is not that i am ignoring it or trying to make it less important, but, i need to preserve some energy for healing.Posted 09-12-2008 at 02:54 AM by xqzmi
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Yeah, I saw our TSA folks with the new uniforms. I like the new blue but I don't think they do. 03elle, we know what's up and unfortunately, others don't. Things are still happening every day and because it's deemed SSI, no one can say anything about it. But the TSA web board is a scary place.
X, where's the thread about this? I looked for it and didn't see it.Posted 09-12-2008 at 03:57 AM by LuvMyIS350
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Very nice blog, LUV. Your perspective of that day is one I hadn't read before. I've wanted to meet or read someone's testimony of being stuck on a grounded airplane that day. I can only imagine how difficult that was for the passengers and crew. I find it difficult to look at pics from that day. But I don't want to forget. And I haven't.
Speaking of the lax attitude by people about another attack....what's your opinion on not barricading pilots in the cockpit like some other European airlines do, so that in case of a hijacking, access to the cockpit would be very difficult?Posted 09-12-2008 at 05:01 AM by msohaiku
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I'm all for barricading pilots in there Mso, but all a terrorist has to do is hold a knife or torture a Flight Attendant into getting into the cockpit...there's always ways around it. I watched United 93 last weekend and I was so moved when the passengers ganged up and decided to rush the cockpit door. I was cheering as the tears were running down my face. I kept hoping for a different ending.
Posted 09-12-2008 at 11:59 AM by LuvMyIS350
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Good point, LUV. I couldn't bring myself to watch the movie. I'm sure it was good, but I would have cried my eyes out and been depressed for a couple days.
One image that has always stood our in my mind from that day was a picture I saw in a book about Sept. 11, not too many months after it happened. It was a pic of a woman, standing at a window near one of the crashes into the WTC. She was just standing there, all alone with several floors of her building missing right next to her with smoke billowing out. That picture just ripped my heart out, because she was alone and because she had no way out, no way to survive. Her time had come, much sooner than she had expected for her life and her end was in such an awful way.
I wonder what happens to souls when they passover in violence? Is it much different than going in peace?Posted 09-12-2008 at 12:11 PM by msohaiku
