lc_story8.xml

lc_story8.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-02-13

I work about 2 blocks from the Capitol Building. About a half hour after I had gotten in to work that morning, I received a phone call from my husband (who works in Virginia) telling me that the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. My immediate thought was that it must have been an accident but when he told me that 2 different planes had struck, it sunk in that this was an act of terror. I told my co-workers what I had heard and we immediately turned on the radio. Some of us tried to log on to CNN.com but it was already inaccessible from so many people trying to log on at once. We were all still in a state of disbelief when the report came on that the Pentagon had also been hit by a plane. Suddenly the radio was filled with unconfirmed reports and rumors about how the Mall was burning and that a bomb went off in front of the State Department. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to be under attack. After many calls back and forth with my husband, I decided to leave the building and go to a friend's house who lived nearby the office but away from the Capitol. At this point, reports stated that the Metro was closed and people were beginning to evacuate the city by car and on foot. Several of us from my office ended up at this friend's house and we remained glued to the television set watching the unfolding events. I watched in sheer disbelief as the towers crumbled into dust and the pentagon burned. I thought of all the lives of those who's deaths I was witnessing. Schools were being closed early and my husband was on his way home from Virginia to Rockville so that he could be home when they got there. We were in constant touch by cell phone. I couldn't get any calls out of the area though to tell our families that we were alright but finally he was able to contact them. By early afternoon, it seemed that it was definitely over and Metro was running again. As I walked to the station, I felt the eerie quiet of the city. Still very shaken, I took the train home. I thought about what a beautiful morning it had been. A perfect late summer/early fall sunny day. Nevertheless, it was just a regular day. I remember thinking about how such a regular,run-of-the-mill morning could turn into such an unforgettable day.
I was the last of us to get home. We all hugged each other and were all very aware of how grateful we were to be together, knowing full well that there would be thousands of families who would not have such reunions. As the day wore on, the television never went off. Friends came over and we all felt the need to be with people we loved and cared about. There was a need to connect. I don't know how many times that day that I watched the plane hitting the second tower, the burst of flames, and then the crumbling. I do know that the image immediately became part of our collective conscious.

Aside from the obvious images of destruction that will stay with me for the rest of my life, what I remember most is the feeling of being under attack and how desparately I just wanted to be home surrounded by my family---all of us safe. There was a feeling of helplessness throughout the day---witnessing horrific events that couldn't be changed, not being able to get home, not being able to make calls outside the area. I'll also always remember the sense of being aware that I was witnessing a terrible chapter in American history.

The country has been affected in many ways. We've lost our misguided feeling of invincibility that we had prior to September 11th. We now know that being oceans away from most of the rest of the world doesn't always protect us. It's easier now for us to become lax with civil liberties and civil rights if it means fighting terrorism. We have to be very careful about falling into that kind of thinking - of not taking away these fundamental values of American Democracy. If we do allow our rights to be manipulated, the terrorists will have succeeded.

Personally, I'm much more aware of my surroundings now than I was before. I pay attention to the people around me and sometimes look for the nearest exit when I'm in a public space. My husband and I finally wrote a will as a result of September 11th. Mostly it has left me with a heaviness of spirit and much worry about the world our children will live in.