Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "September 11: Bearing Witness to History" Stories Submitted Online Description An account of the resource Visitors to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History's, "Bearing Witness to History" online exhibition submitted these reflections beginning in 2002. NMAH Story NMAH Story: Story How did you witness history on September 11th? Share your experience. I was on the summit of Haleakala on the Hawaiian island of Maui. I had left my hotel in the middle of the night to watch dawn at the summit, and had driven with the radio off, enjoying the feel of the darkness and silence of the night. As usual, quite a crowd had formed to witness the sunrise. Around 5:30 am someone in the crowd mentioned "The World Trade Center is no longer there." I thought this was a curious thing to say, and assumed the person was talking about some movie -- how could anything like that be true? -- and I joined everyone else in observing the fiery sun emerge through the clouds. The normality of the whole thing was striking. People were laughing, taking pictures of each other. But I felt increasingly uneasy and, with the sun finished with its performance, I made a bolt for the car, put on the radio, and heard the dreadful truth. The military closed the top section of the park -- there is a research base called "Science City" up there -- and remaining visitors were ushered down. A group were setting off on a bike ride, as per normal, but most people left the park altogether. I paused to consider what to do with the rest of the day, and decided there was little to be gained from watching TV in the hotel room -- there would be enough of that in the evening. So I took a 12-mile hike down and across the crater floor. The place was almost deserted. I hardly saw another soul the whole day. It is an environment of alien colors and strange shapes and forms. The experience was at once beautiful and surreal and troubling. The terrorist events of the day seemed far away yet ever present, and the horror seemed both unimaginable and reflected in the imposing natural forms of the Hawaiian landscape. A park ranger spotted me as I completed the hike and kindly gave me a ride back to the car. Then I returned to the hotel, and stayed glued to the TV like everyone else, the reality which had not wished to quite confirm itself during the day -- we really don't want to believe such evil can happen -- finally sinking in. NMAH Story: Life Changed Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. NMAH Story: Remembered What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? Each and every person who was injured or died or lost a love one together will all who contributed bravely to the rescue effort should be remembered for ever. The terrorists deserve no memory. They merit only oblivion. But their evil must be preserved in communal memory so that such events can be prevented from happening ever again. NMAH Story: Flag Did you fly an American flag after the events of September 11th? Have your feelings about the American flag changed as a result of September 11th? Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource nmah3886.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. story Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-09-11 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 63.214.66.186