nmah5672.xml

nmah5672.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-09

It was a perfect fall morning, the air was crisp and fresh, the sun was bright, and here in New England the first of the leaves were beginning were beginning to turn orange. It started, as a day like any other; I was working in the business office of Lowell General Hospital. At least half of us usually have a radio on all day, but the batteries in my radio had been dead for about a month and I had yet to replace them. Therefore, the first indication I recieved that anything was amiss, was when a coworker heard on her radio that a plane had just hit the WTC in New York. Most of us first thought that it was just a terrible accident, but moments later when it was announced that another plane had hit, we were left with little doubt that we were under attack. My first thought was to be grateful that I had no friends and family in New York, but then it occured to me that one of my best friends from high school had just taken a job at an airline and I could not remember which one. I sat at my desk clutching the cross I wore around my neck, praying and trying not to cry. I tried to call one of my other friends to see if she could remember which airline Crystal worked for, but I was unable to reach her because the cellphones were not working. It was an hour or more before I was finally able to reach Crystal and find out that she worked for an airline that was not invloved in the crash. I was so relieved, but it made me think of other familes and friends who would not be so lucky that day. Most of us wandered from desk to desk listening to the news and expressing our disbelief. Other reports came trickling in of missing planes, another crash at the Pentagon, a crash in Pennsylvania, other planes flying in closed air space. None of us knew what to believe. It felt like we were in a scene from a movie, with all of our major cities being destroyed and left us wondering if our neighboring city of Boston was next. I remember being so scared, feeling our world changing and knowing none of us would ever be the same. Our supervisors were trying to get us to go back to work, but none of us could focus. The Chaplain offered a prayer service and most of us, of all faiths, gladly went. Sitting in the auditorium waiting for the service to begin, I watched for the first time, the news footage of the second plane hitting the WTC and it shocked and devestated me. Seeing the loss of innocent lives before my very eyes, the moment our country, our world changed forever. I became addicted to the new coverage, afraid to miss a single detail. While at work I listened to radio reports for the search for surviors, on my breaks I read the newspaper, and at home I watched the non-stop news coverage. I followed the progress of the people at ground zero, listened long into the night as they told of people trapped below, waiting for even one to be saved. I was afraid to shut the TV off at night. I needed to be able to wake up at any point during the night and check the progress of the searches and make sure there had been no more attacks. It took almost a year for me to be able to go without having batteries in my radio or not buying a news paper and checking the news contstantly. I was so afraid to be caught by surprise by another attack.

Yes, our whole world has changed and nothing seems the same. It is as if there are two worlds now, pre 9/11 and post 9/11. So much innocence was lost that day. For at least a month after the attacks I saved the newspaper everyday knowing that someday I will need to explain this to my son, who was born the next fall. I hope that he will never experience anything like Septemeber 11, and at the same time I know this will mean that he will not be able to understand how we all felt that day.

I think that we need to remember the victims who unwillingly sacraficed their lives, the heroes, who took down the Pennsylvania plan, thereby avoiding a larger tragedy. I also think it is important to remember how for one moment in time, Americans came togeter as one in definace of an enemy who sought to destroy us. If we could live each day like that, what a difference we could make.

Yes, I have the had a flag on my computer at work everyday since the attacks, I fly one in my home and have one on my car. The flag to me is a symbol of our unity. It is a symbol of pride. We used it to send a message....America is not buildings, planes....America is Freedom and you can fly a plane into our buildings, you can take the lives of our innocent, but we will still be here, waving our flag and crying out for Freedom.