nmah5485.xml

nmah5485.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-04-08

My story is so small and far away but it was Sept 11 for me in Sydney, Australia. It was early in the morning, maybe 3am? and my partner's sister phoned to say that her husband (who was working in Germany) had just called her to tell her there had been a terrorist attack in America.

I was still half asleep, my heart racing as it does when the phone rings during the middle of the night, and I remember not comprehending what she was saying.

"Turn on the TV", Erika said. "You can see it".

"Which station?", I asked.

"Any station. It's on every station".

How could that be? Nothing was ever televised on every station.

At 3am my partner and I huddled on our lounge and cried. At about 6am, I phoned my only New York friend, Laura, and after finding she was OK, I listened through the phone as the sirens wailed and Laura told me how strange it all was because the sky was so blue that day.

I had never known what the word 'terrorism' meant before. Not really.

Hatred of humanity will continue to harm us. We must all take steps to change our world.

I am Australian and hadn't thought about the role of the flag, any flag, yours or ours.