nmah6535.xml

nmah6535.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-06-07

That morning, I was at my desk at my job at the Library of Congress in Washington when a colleague came by and told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I imagined it to be a small private plane similar to the one that had hit the Empire State Building decades ago, and so I went online to see if I could find some news about the crash. The CNN site was too busy to access so I went to washingtonpost.com and there was already a photo up on the home page. Not having an inkling of what had really happened, when I saw what looked to be the windows of two or three stories of the building replaced by charred remains I said to myself, "Well, that's going to take a while to clean up." Soon more information about the crash came in and word spread of another plane hitting the other World Trade Center tower. And then the plane hitting the Pentagon. I ran upstairs to our cafeteria which is situated on the building's top floor and has a wall of windows which face south, in the direction of the Pentagon. On the way I ran into two colleagues who usually have breakfast in the cafeteria and asked them if you could see the smoke from the crash at the Pentagon. One replied, "Can you see the smoke?! I'll say you can!" I then went to see for myself and yes, you could see the Pentagon and the black, billowing smoke rising from the far side of the building. (The actual impact site was on the other side of the Pentagon.) I ran downstairs and out onto Pennsylvania Ave. SE to a nearby camera store where I bought a disposable camera. I ran back into our building to see other staff leaving in groups. Thankfully the police did not hinder my re-entry into the building. I raced upstairs to the cafeteria, went out onto the balcony and took several photos of the Pentagon. Then I remembered that our director has a TV in her office so I went there to see what I could find out. At that point there were rumors that bombs had gone off at the State Department and at other locations in Washington. Her office faces north and no smoke was visible from that direction. Nor was there any news on TV regarding other bombings. Her phone rang and I heard her tell someone that she was authorizing staff in our directorate to go home if they wanted. I returned to my desk figuring that I would just go back to work. There was nothing more I could do or see. I was at my desk no more than 10 minutes when the police came through to evacuate the building. I live on Capitol Hill so I just walked home. When I passed the Supreme Court I could see a police officer standing on the roof and thought that was pretty ominous. When I got home I went up to our roof to take a few more photos of the Pentagon. Then I, like most others, sat down in front of the television to watch history unfold. I saw as one tower fell. Then the other. After I while I had to get out and just went for a walk. I passed one restaurant which was still open. People were eating outside on that beautiful fall day and I thought to myself, "How can people just go on as if nothing has happened? Why is this restaurant open?" A few minutes later I passed another business which was closed and I thought to myself, "Why are they closed? Life goes on. We can't let this interfere with our daily lives." An obvious contradiction, i know, but one which perhaps others experienced on that day. I decided to walk to Union Station because a colleague of mine takes the train to and from work every day from West Virginia and I wondered if perhaps he'd been stranded and needed a place to stay for the night. I got to the station to find it all closed up with yellow police tape all around it. I wondered where all the passengers had gone and took a photo. On my walk home I passed an intersection that, for a reason not obvious to me, had been marked off with yellow police tape. Again I took a photo but this time a police officer saw me. He motioned to me to come over to him and demanded to know why I was taking such a photo. I mumbled something about the unusual circumstances of the day and that I was just out to take photos. He asked for my driver's license and, upon reading it, said, "You live in DC and you're taking pictures here? Mighty strange." I said that this was my neighborhood and asked why it should be strange that I was taking photos here. I thought then and there that I was not going to let him confiscate my camera with my photos of the day. He'd have to arrest me if he wanted the camera. An older officer came up and pulled aside the one who'd been talking to me (he looked pretty young and inexperienced). After a brief chat they both returned to me, asked for my social security number and then handed me back my driver's license. I think at that time no one knew what to do, not even the police, or how dangerous someone might be. I returned home and turned the TV on again to see what else had transpired. That's all I watched for the rest of the day--news of the attacks.

My life has changed only because of the increased security at the Library of Congress, the Capitol complex buildings, buildings elsewhere in DC and in airports. Prior to Sept. 11, Library staff did not have to walk through metal detectors nor did we have our bags screened before entering our buildings. Now we do. There is also increased and more visible security throughout central DC. So I have been affected only by inconvenience. I didn't know anyone who died in the September 11 attacks, nor do I know anyone who did. At least that I know of. I'm certain that if the Capitol itself had been hit my life might have been turned upside down, personally, professionally and emotionally. I live only six blocks from the Capitol so my entire neighborhood would have been impacted by a direct hit. I really don't know how much my personal and professional lives might have been affected by a direct hit on the Capitol but they sure would have been.

First and foremost we should remember the people who died. Next we should remember those who suffered, those wounded in the attacks and those who lost loved ones. We also need to remember who perpetrated these acts of supreme violence and why they did it. We must remember this--and learn from it--if we are to prevent another attack from occurring.

No, I did not fly a flag after the attacks though there were certainly many in my neighborhood who did. I am mistrustful of overt, knee-jerk signs of patriotism and I have long resented how right-wing political factions in our country have appropriated patriotism, the flag and God to advance their political agenda. I love my country as much as the next person but I don't believe in "my country right or wrong" and I do think it could be so much better. Unfortunately, I think the flag is often used as a divisive, rather than a unifying, symbol. My feelings about the flag have not changed since September 11.