nmah326.xml

nmah326.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-20

My roommate and I had recently graduated from college. We grew up together on the same street in Southern New Jersey, didn't attend the same college, but kept in touch during those years we atteneded college. After graduation, we decided to move to Manhattan together - we found a great apartment about 2 blocks away from the World Trade Center, right on the water. My roommate loved living there because he worked in the World Financial Center (which used to be connected to the World Trade Center by a bridge over the West Side Highway). During the morning of September 11th, I had been running a little late for work and was watching SportsCenter on ESPN when my roommate reminded me that I should get a move on if I wanted to make it to work on time - I work in midtown and commuted each morning by the subway underneath the World Trade Center complex. I began work on August 27th, two weeks before the tragedy. On the morning of September 11th, I walked to the subway at the WTC and when I got out 15 minutes minutes later in midtown, everyone was looking downtown. From midtown Manhattan, you used to be able to see the twin towers by looking straight down most avenues. All we could see at that point was smoke coming out of one of them. I ran inside my work office to watch TV and to hear what had happened; the TV room was packed as all of my coworkers huddled into the room to hear what had happened. I made a phone call to my parents to let them know that I was OK. Some of us went back to our workstations. Then there was a rumor that a second plane had hit the second tower. We tried to tell each other that "no, there was only one plane, and only one tower was hit." But then someone ran down the hall to tell us that indeed a second plane had hit the second tower. I tried to call my parents again, but all of the cell phones that morning didn't work. I wrote an email to my father on his 2-way pager letting him know that I was safe in midtown, but that I hadn't heard from my roommate. Within the next hour, I heard from just about all of my friends and family - checking to see that I was OK, and letting me know that they were OK. The story from my roommate was that he and his coworkers had left the World Financial building and adjourned back to our apartment. They wanted to go back to work, and on their way back into the office, the second plane hit and they ran for their lives away from the towers. The rest of the morning was a blur, and this is what I remember. We watched at work on the television as the towers collapsed. People cried. People shook their heads. People said "NO, this can not be happening." We watched as the broadcasters let us know that there was a plane in Pennsylvania and another one in the DC area that had gone down. What could we do? We were in a conference room watching the TV as people were in complete chaos downtown? My new neighborhood quickly turned into a national disaster area - I couldn't return to my apartment for 2 weeks. But we had it the easiest - all we had to do was move to a new apartment...my thoughts, prayers, and wishes go out to all of those families who lost loved ones, and to all Americans that were affected on this tragic day. I met up with my roommate that night in Union Square, where a candlelight ceremony was being held. It was so good to see him. I slept over at my cousin's apartment that night in the upper westside. But Manhattan was eerily quiet that night. It took me about 10 blocks to find a cab on the street to take me to my cousin's apartment, when usually there are cabs on every corner. The streets were empty. The next morning, September 12th, I went to work. The streets of New York were empty. My workplace was empty. I was scared. I sat with a few other hundred people outside of CBS studios where we watched large screen TVs giving us the latest updates. How did I witness September 11th? I witnessed it by sight - from midtown looking downtown. I witnessed it with coworkers - huddled around TVs in a conference room crying and wondering how this happened. I witnessed it with fellow New Yorkers in a plaza the day after watching what had happened in our city, in our capital, and in our Pennsylvania town. I witnessed Ground Zero. I witnessed the signs and posters of missed ones posted on every telephone booth, every hospital entrance, and in every subway station. I witnessed September 11th, and will never forget September 11th.

I value life more. I live more freely, and with more carefree thoughts. Every once in a while I think about that day, about those that passed away, about those families that waited to hear from their loved ones. I think about what happened, why it happened, how it happened. But then I think about where we live, and how we live...then I think about how lucky we are to live in America - the greatest country in the world.

I think there are certain stories that should be remembered forever when one speaks of September 11th. The valiant struggles the people on the flights put up with the terrorists. The good-natured, and good-hearted people that tried to help our disabled people in the World Trade Center buildings, and were eventually killed because they were trying to help these people out of the building. The fire fighters and police officers who were doing their jobs that day. Remembering September 11th is nothing without remembering the stories of that day.

After leaving Manhattan a few weeks after September 11th, I went home to see my parents in Southern New Jersey. That weekend, my father and I tried to buy an American flag, but all of the flags were sold out in the stores we went to - he then remembered that one of his patients had given him a flag. We hung a huge American flag from the top of our garage that draped down a few feet.
Now, as I venture around Manhattan, I see American flags in apartment windows, draping from sky scrapers, hanging out of car windows, worn on tee-shirts...and in the back of my mind I think of September 11th.