email525.xml
Title
email525.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-08-20
September 11 Email: Body
I just wanted to give you a sense of what it was like to be an American today...maybe you can share these thoughts for me with your dad as well...
This morning, when the news was still breaking, and we were watching that second plane hit the world trade center, when we were seeing images of our nation's capital being guarded by fighter jets as the symbol of our nation's defensive power sat in flames, there was such an overwhelming fear of our way of life disappearing before our eyes. I don't even know how to express it, but so many I have talked to felt as if the world was falling to pieces.
To drive through downtown Los Angeles this morning, looking up, wondering where the next plane would hit, while everyone cried and talked to each other through car windows, while buildings downtown were being evacuated, while the airport was closed along with ports and freeway off-ramps, was more than surreal. It was sickening and shocking and numbing.
To worry about my best friend in Washington D.C. who works at the State Department, to frantically try to reach her on the phone, to worry about our co-workers in New York and wonder of their fate, was horrifying. To discover they were safe was such a relief, followed by the guilt of knowing how many hundreds of thousands were still worried about their loved ones, still without answers.
To feel such anger, to hear and to know that this is a horrible act of war, an act of evil committed by some group, to want to exact vicious retribution on those who could do this to all of these innocents, to wonder how to fight a group of faceless cowards was supremely frustrating. To watch Palestinians and others dancing on the street as they gave news interviews expressing hopes for more American deaths was absolutely infuriating.
To hold hands with those in my office as we stood in a circle and prayed and cried and said the Lord's prayer, to hug each other as we yelled and cried at the TVs was such an amazing time of knowing what it is to be an American, to feel patriotism coursing through our veins. To watch our Congressmen and women singing "God Bless America" on the steps of our capitol building brought me to tears.
To hear of bombings in Afghanistan, to wonder if it was a rash US action rather than civil war, to hear our president say "we will make no distinction between those who committed these acts and those who harbor them" was to wonder about the repercussions of this day, to fear for the onset of war. To hear that those Afgan bombings were not US-related was an incredible relief as I hope that our leaders will be rational and patient in their search for justice.
I am so overwhelmed and exhausted by this day. It will be part of my appreciation of my freedom and my country for the rest of my life. I'm wondering how you are all responding to this news there,
Love,
Cristin
This morning, when the news was still breaking, and we were watching that second plane hit the world trade center, when we were seeing images of our nation's capital being guarded by fighter jets as the symbol of our nation's defensive power sat in flames, there was such an overwhelming fear of our way of life disappearing before our eyes. I don't even know how to express it, but so many I have talked to felt as if the world was falling to pieces.
To drive through downtown Los Angeles this morning, looking up, wondering where the next plane would hit, while everyone cried and talked to each other through car windows, while buildings downtown were being evacuated, while the airport was closed along with ports and freeway off-ramps, was more than surreal. It was sickening and shocking and numbing.
To worry about my best friend in Washington D.C. who works at the State Department, to frantically try to reach her on the phone, to worry about our co-workers in New York and wonder of their fate, was horrifying. To discover they were safe was such a relief, followed by the guilt of knowing how many hundreds of thousands were still worried about their loved ones, still without answers.
To feel such anger, to hear and to know that this is a horrible act of war, an act of evil committed by some group, to want to exact vicious retribution on those who could do this to all of these innocents, to wonder how to fight a group of faceless cowards was supremely frustrating. To watch Palestinians and others dancing on the street as they gave news interviews expressing hopes for more American deaths was absolutely infuriating.
To hold hands with those in my office as we stood in a circle and prayed and cried and said the Lord's prayer, to hug each other as we yelled and cried at the TVs was such an amazing time of knowing what it is to be an American, to feel patriotism coursing through our veins. To watch our Congressmen and women singing "God Bless America" on the steps of our capitol building brought me to tears.
To hear of bombings in Afghanistan, to wonder if it was a rash US action rather than civil war, to hear our president say "we will make no distinction between those who committed these acts and those who harbor them" was to wonder about the repercussions of this day, to fear for the onset of war. To hear that those Afgan bombings were not US-related was an incredible relief as I hope that our leaders will be rational and patient in their search for justice.
I am so overwhelmed and exhausted by this day. It will be part of my appreciation of my freedom and my country for the rest of my life. I'm wondering how you are all responding to this news there,
Love,
Cristin
September 11 Email: Date
september 11, 2001
September 11 Email: Subject
today
Collection
Citation
“email525.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed July 8, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/37751.