Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" Stories Submitted Online Description An account of the resource Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's, "Bearing Witness to History" online exhibition submitted these reflections beginning in 2002. NMAH Story NMAH Story: Story How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. Overnight on September 10, I traveled to London on the first leg of a trip to Nigeria. On the 11th, I was walking around London enjoying the sights. I didn't learn what had happened in the U.S. until about 6:30 P.M. London time, so several hours after the event. When I finally reached my husband in Washington, D.C., where we live, he told me about the way the day was unfolding in the wake of the Pentagon attack. My son had blessedly been kept at school to await his afternoon bus (which normally passes right by the Pentagon), allowing my husband to remain at the office. As for me, I asked if I should return home, and he told me I couldn't: transatlantic flights were cancelled. So the next morning, September 12, I continued on to Abuja, Nigeria as scheduled, and spent the next week there on business. Once I got there, I wrote to my family saying it was the first time I felt safer in Africa than at homee. During the period of my stay in Nigeria, there was serious ethnic strife in the town of Jos, which left thousands of Nigerians dead. So the Nigerians I met, while expressing their condolences to me, also received mine. I remember one night at the hotel restaurant, when the waiter stood solemnly beside me and told me how very sad he was at my loss. I just started to cry right then and there. It was strange, for me and other American colleagues overseas, to experience the whole thing via CNN. When I got home, I knew I had missed an experience which had visibly marked everyone who had lived through it, including my family. NMAH Story: Life Changed Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. Yes, in the sense that it is more evident than before that the U.S. is not a "safe haven" from the troubles of the world. Since my career involves assistance to developing countries, I am more aware than most Americans of the problems most of the world faces. Having it "come home" was different, though. I can also see how shaken my son still is - on a recent visit to New York, we went to Ground Zero and he just fell apart. He thought a plane was going to land on us, and he kept saying he didn't want all those people to die. It was heart-rending. NMAH Story: Remembered What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? NMAH Story: Flag Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? Yes, we did. It means much more to me, and I have become very interested in learning more about the first years of our country. I have read Founding Brothers and the Adams biography recently. I also watched Ken Burns' Civil War series all the way through again. It seems to me we badly need to re-connect to our values as a nation. I am concerned about the direction our foreign policy has been taking during 2002, however; I do not feel certain that we are learning the lessons of this event. Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource nmah5327.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-12-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 216.8.14.137