lc_story225.xml

lc_story225.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-08

Dozing on and off as I traveled to New York via the Boonton train line, I awakened to a buzz of voices around me. Looking out the window, I could see flames at the top of the World Trade Center Towers. I leaned over and asked a man in front of me if he knew what was happening. He said, that a small plane had hit the towers. We arrived at the Hoboken station at 9:25 AM that morning. Fortunately the train was twenty-minutes late that morning. We would normally arrive at 9:05 AM. By 9:15 AM I would just be arriving at the Path Station at the WTC Center. Instead, at 9:25 AM, we were hearing an announcement -- "All transportation in and out of New York is canceled."

I was sitting on the return train back to Lincoln Park speaking with a friend. Two men sat in front of us. We soon learned that they were in a building across the street from the first tower. Listening to their story, I learned that when the first plane hit, they looked out the window and both instinctively had the sense to leave their building. As they dashed towards the NYC Ferry Service to Hoboken, the second plane hit the next tower. One fellow reported that he saw the landing wheels of the plane hit a car and that they were both dodging debris that was falling from the plane. As they looked back, they realized that some of the falling debris were falling bodies.

I pray daily for those who have or are attempting to harm us, that they may see that violence will only continue to breed violence. I pray that there will be a way to reach "peace" with those who try to hold all in this world hostage by their terrorist ways.