story7717.xml
Title
story7717.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-09-17
911DA Story: Story
ENLIGHTENMENT
Once upon a time I lived in an untouchable world. I lived comfortably with CNN, MSNBC and dozens of news channels. I cried with the explosion of the shuttle after take off, cried with the picture of the baby being carried out of the rubble at the Oklahoma bombing but never have I ever experienced such helplessness and pain as with the events of September 11th. These things only happen on CNN. I clutch my heart, shake my head, say a silent prayer then change the channel to ER, The Practice or Judge Judy.
September 11th began as a beautiful clear day. I left home at 7:15am and arrived at work above Grand Central Station/42nd Street at 8:20am. I listen to CD 101.9 light Jazz. I?m enjoying the music. My husband, Gilbert, works in Brooklyn across the river from the World Trade Center (WTC). My first call from him at 8:49 tells me there?s a huge fire at WTC. He never saw the first plane, just the devastating results. We hang up. My sister, Cheryl, calls ? ?Two planes just flew into WTC?. ?Cheryl ? Gilbert said it?s just a fire ? don?t worry.? My husband calls again screaming ?get out, get out of your building, New York is under attack, leave work, get out! I just saw a plane fly directly into the second tower, get out now!? At this point everyone has radios tuned to 1010 WINS all news station.
My girlfriends and I crowd into a co-workers office ? she is crying, we?re all crying ? her sister works in the WTC. She cannot reach her through her office phone or cell phone. Oh Lord! Please let her be alive and well ?we all say a prayer. I call Mom to see if she?s heard from my brother ? he works in the area but he?s always in the towers or underground at the PATH train. Thank GOD! he?s fine ? he?s called Mom.
Superiors at work have not made a decision whether to let us out of the office early ? ?. . . the office will remain open as this does not affect us.? Nevertheless, I gather my belongings together.
At the fall of the first tower I really begin bawling ? the words that went through my head was a repeat of a film clip of the Hindenberg crashing to the ground and the announcer with his voice full of tears crying ? ?Oh! The humanity.? I thought of all the people who worked there ? at one point I worked on the 92nd Floor ? and I cried. I haven?t spoken with my cousin in a while, where in the city does she work? My Lord ? let my family be safe.
The Pentagon? This thing is nationwide. At the crash of the second tower there are more tears but everyone wants to gather husbands, wives, children and parents around to ensure their safety. Seven of us leave the office together. As we are leaving they are evacuating our building ? Grand Central Station is a prime target with thousands of commuters daily. We must get out of the city, buildings are too tall here ? each a potential target. For those of us going to Brooklyn ? how do we get out? Lower Manhattan is closed. The news says the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges are closed. We have to cross at the 59th Street/Queensboro Bridge which lets us out in Long Island City, Queens. We laugh and joke as we walk up the middle of 2nd Avenue to 59th Street. Thank God I wore flat shoes. Air space has been shut down to all planes and the drone of a plane overhead has us all ducking ? we can?t run towards a building for cover ? it?s not safe.
As we approach the bridge there?s a high concrete barrier to prevent cars from taking that route to the bridge. Lady-like behavior and modesty has no place here ? we slide over on our behinds or hike our skirts up, exposing underwear, as we kick our legs over the barrier. Another barrier . . . we do the same and land smack in the middle of traffic getting out of the city. They wait for us to cross yet another barrier and get out of harm?s way. Trucks, buses or cars that can accommodate people allow them to hop on. People are hopping on to trucks? cargo area, they are hanging on to the side mirrors on the driver?s and passenger?s side of the trucks. This is dangerous but we are all trying to get out of the city. Temra, our co-worker with asthma, gets winded and we slow our pace. We?re laughing and joking but behind all the laughter we?re praying ? Lord please protect those at the WTC, look over Kim and her family; please don?t let it be as bad as it sounds. At this point in time we had not seen.
Steve, another co-worker, was parked in Long Island City and give a few of us rides into Long Island and Brooklyn (as close as he could get - many streets are now closed). Thank God for Steve and his car.
I arrive home five hours later. My 15-year old daughter, Whitney, has been picked up by another parent ? she?s safe. I turn on the TV and finally see what the world has been looking at for the last few hours. The crying never really stops for the next few days. The water stops flowing from my eyes but it takes one word, one thought, one newspaper article, one survivor interview, one missing person poster and it all comes out once again.
Whitney has been unable to sleep in her room ? she?s afraid. A woman at work makes a statement that Whitney?s too old to be afraid. I think this woman is living in another world. She does not understand that we are our children?s protectors ? we handle the bullies and the teasers, we teach them about strangers and bad people who might want to touch; but we never thought to teach them about this ? how could we? We never could have imagined this.
This tragedy has sent me to the Bible asking why. Some of you may begin to squirm when you start reading this but you must realize there is someone bigger than you or I ?we have no control here.
?We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.? 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. This is a reality check. We have our nice homes, nice cars, nice clothes and nice furniture but we should never forget to thank God for LIFE.
Be prepared! Live everyday as though it is your last day on earth. Praying together was unlawful in schools and in public arenas. After September 11th they could not stop the praying in every public place conceivable ? people were praying in schools, at work and in parks. Prayer vigils were held worldwide ? we are afraid. ?in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.?
The airplanes could have been bound for Southern California, Maryland, Orlando, Seattle or any of the cities you live in. Don?t wait for tomorrow to get your act together. Proverbs 27:1 says ?Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth?
We thank God for life. We thank God for the ability to praise and bless him. We thank God for sparing my brother's life and the lives of others who we know and others we do not know. We thank God for the ones who were lost ? those we know and those we do not know. We thank God for being God ? it?s not for us to question why ? just thank him. God has a plan for us.
Once upon a time I lived in an untouchable world. I lived comfortably with CNN, MSNBC and dozens of news channels. I cried with the explosion of the shuttle after take off, cried with the picture of the baby being carried out of the rubble at the Oklahoma bombing but never have I ever experienced such helplessness and pain as with the events of September 11th. These things only happen on CNN. I clutch my heart, shake my head, say a silent prayer then change the channel to ER, The Practice or Judge Judy.
September 11th began as a beautiful clear day. I left home at 7:15am and arrived at work above Grand Central Station/42nd Street at 8:20am. I listen to CD 101.9 light Jazz. I?m enjoying the music. My husband, Gilbert, works in Brooklyn across the river from the World Trade Center (WTC). My first call from him at 8:49 tells me there?s a huge fire at WTC. He never saw the first plane, just the devastating results. We hang up. My sister, Cheryl, calls ? ?Two planes just flew into WTC?. ?Cheryl ? Gilbert said it?s just a fire ? don?t worry.? My husband calls again screaming ?get out, get out of your building, New York is under attack, leave work, get out! I just saw a plane fly directly into the second tower, get out now!? At this point everyone has radios tuned to 1010 WINS all news station.
My girlfriends and I crowd into a co-workers office ? she is crying, we?re all crying ? her sister works in the WTC. She cannot reach her through her office phone or cell phone. Oh Lord! Please let her be alive and well ?we all say a prayer. I call Mom to see if she?s heard from my brother ? he works in the area but he?s always in the towers or underground at the PATH train. Thank GOD! he?s fine ? he?s called Mom.
Superiors at work have not made a decision whether to let us out of the office early ? ?. . . the office will remain open as this does not affect us.? Nevertheless, I gather my belongings together.
At the fall of the first tower I really begin bawling ? the words that went through my head was a repeat of a film clip of the Hindenberg crashing to the ground and the announcer with his voice full of tears crying ? ?Oh! The humanity.? I thought of all the people who worked there ? at one point I worked on the 92nd Floor ? and I cried. I haven?t spoken with my cousin in a while, where in the city does she work? My Lord ? let my family be safe.
The Pentagon? This thing is nationwide. At the crash of the second tower there are more tears but everyone wants to gather husbands, wives, children and parents around to ensure their safety. Seven of us leave the office together. As we are leaving they are evacuating our building ? Grand Central Station is a prime target with thousands of commuters daily. We must get out of the city, buildings are too tall here ? each a potential target. For those of us going to Brooklyn ? how do we get out? Lower Manhattan is closed. The news says the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges are closed. We have to cross at the 59th Street/Queensboro Bridge which lets us out in Long Island City, Queens. We laugh and joke as we walk up the middle of 2nd Avenue to 59th Street. Thank God I wore flat shoes. Air space has been shut down to all planes and the drone of a plane overhead has us all ducking ? we can?t run towards a building for cover ? it?s not safe.
As we approach the bridge there?s a high concrete barrier to prevent cars from taking that route to the bridge. Lady-like behavior and modesty has no place here ? we slide over on our behinds or hike our skirts up, exposing underwear, as we kick our legs over the barrier. Another barrier . . . we do the same and land smack in the middle of traffic getting out of the city. They wait for us to cross yet another barrier and get out of harm?s way. Trucks, buses or cars that can accommodate people allow them to hop on. People are hopping on to trucks? cargo area, they are hanging on to the side mirrors on the driver?s and passenger?s side of the trucks. This is dangerous but we are all trying to get out of the city. Temra, our co-worker with asthma, gets winded and we slow our pace. We?re laughing and joking but behind all the laughter we?re praying ? Lord please protect those at the WTC, look over Kim and her family; please don?t let it be as bad as it sounds. At this point in time we had not seen.
Steve, another co-worker, was parked in Long Island City and give a few of us rides into Long Island and Brooklyn (as close as he could get - many streets are now closed). Thank God for Steve and his car.
I arrive home five hours later. My 15-year old daughter, Whitney, has been picked up by another parent ? she?s safe. I turn on the TV and finally see what the world has been looking at for the last few hours. The crying never really stops for the next few days. The water stops flowing from my eyes but it takes one word, one thought, one newspaper article, one survivor interview, one missing person poster and it all comes out once again.
Whitney has been unable to sleep in her room ? she?s afraid. A woman at work makes a statement that Whitney?s too old to be afraid. I think this woman is living in another world. She does not understand that we are our children?s protectors ? we handle the bullies and the teasers, we teach them about strangers and bad people who might want to touch; but we never thought to teach them about this ? how could we? We never could have imagined this.
This tragedy has sent me to the Bible asking why. Some of you may begin to squirm when you start reading this but you must realize there is someone bigger than you or I ?we have no control here.
?We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.? 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. This is a reality check. We have our nice homes, nice cars, nice clothes and nice furniture but we should never forget to thank God for LIFE.
Be prepared! Live everyday as though it is your last day on earth. Praying together was unlawful in schools and in public arenas. After September 11th they could not stop the praying in every public place conceivable ? people were praying in schools, at work and in parks. Prayer vigils were held worldwide ? we are afraid. ?in our hearts we felt the sentence of death.?
The airplanes could have been bound for Southern California, Maryland, Orlando, Seattle or any of the cities you live in. Don?t wait for tomorrow to get your act together. Proverbs 27:1 says ?Do not boast about tomorrow for you do not know what a day may bring forth?
We thank God for life. We thank God for the ability to praise and bless him. We thank God for sparing my brother's life and the lives of others who we know and others we do not know. We thank God for the ones who were lost ? those we know and those we do not know. We thank God for being God ? it?s not for us to question why ? just thank him. God has a plan for us.
Collection
Citation
“story7717.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed January 10, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/4035.