nmah5267.xml

nmah5267.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-10-30

I took the train from Albany to NYC on the morning of September 11th for a meeting at our NYC Office at One Penn Plaza. As soon as I got off the train and arrived at our office I knew something was wrong because everyone was outside and on cell phones. I asked someone if the building had been evacuated and they said that a plane had crashed into the WTC. If I looked South, I could see a lot of black smoke contrasting with the brilliant blue late summer sky. At about 9:30 am we went inside One Penn Plaza and were told that it was safe to be inside the building. We had no access to TV or radio, so my co-workers and I really didn't know much of the details of what was going on. In the conference room where our meeting was to take place, the big picture window looked out on the World Trade Center Towers. It was horrible to see the black smoke pouring out. I was able to call my husband back home in Albany and he told me that it was a terrorist attack and that the Pentagon had also been attacked. As people started coming into the meeting, we heard all kinds of stories from those who were coming from lower Manhattan. One women was in tears as she described see people falling from the Towers. A decision was made that our meeting could not happen given the situation in Manhattan. At about 10:15 the entire Penn Plaza complex was evacuated. We were back out in the streets, trying to decide what to do and not knowing if there would be further attacks on Manhattan. We decided to try to take the train back to Albany, so we went underground into Penn Station. From the TV's in some of the stores we watched as the Towers collapsed. At that point Penn Station was also evacuated and we were back out on the street. We walked to a restaurant and were welcomed in to watch the TV coverage. People were very quiet and were in shock at the events that were happening around us. My children were in school and knew that I had gone to NYC that day. My son wrote this poem in his 9th grade English class:
I woke up that morning
To a day that would end in mourning
It started at around 9 o'clock
It was a huge shock

I can only wonder why
I can only wonder how
To justify
The slaughtering of innocent people

The carefully planned plot
Makes me ask what
Could possess someone
To take so many lives
I still can't believe it was done
Maybe religion
Or pure hatred
Now they are all dead

It's just an advertisement
A very expensive commercial
They were giving us a message
Whatever happened to the radio

An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
A life for a life
A massacre for a massacre

Now they are all dead and gone
And all I have to say
Is it was the day
The towers went away.