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 work in Manhattan on 23rd Street near 6th Avenue. We have a small office of 8 people and our boss said he had just heard that a plane hit the World Trade Center. We all headed to the conference room and turned on the TV. From there we watched over the next few hours as the second plane hit and then eventually watched as the 2 towers fell one after the other. By noon some of us were wondering whether it was safe to try and head home, we all live in different areas, some in New Jersey, some in the other boroughs. We were all so frightened but we also were wondering if it was over, there was talk of 6 or 8 planes having been hijacked. It seemed for a while that no place was safe. That's something that most Americans had never though of or felt before 9-11. I don't think most of America considered what it must be like in other countries, where people are killed every day in the midst of some of the most mundane activities like buying coffee or seeing a movie. Since then everything has changed. The most frighteneing part for both my wife and myself was waiting in front of Penn Station for the trains to come in. We did not know that the government had ordered fighter jets to fly over the city and for brief moment we were not sure if the planes we could hear were ours or another hijacked flight. NMAH Story: Life Changed Has your life changed because of September 11, 2001? If so, tell us how. I no longer take for granted the time I can spend with my wife and my family. I don't put off get-togethers because you never know what can happen next. I'm sure no one that went into the WTC on that beautiful sunny morning had even the slightest idea what might happen to them. When I have the opportunity to take a day off, I do it. I probably spend a little more cash than I use to on my social life, dinners, movies, parties than I did. I hate to quote an overused phrase but I try to "Live for Today" in a lot of respects. My job is no longer one of the most important parts of my life. NMAH Story: Remembered What do you think should be remembered about September 11th? Most of the country saw 9-11 from a TV screen, others saw it first hand. We smelled the smoke and debris and saw the ash cover the streets. We saw the people who had walked down dozens of flights of stairs to get to the streets only to end up sprinting to escape the collapsing towers. I talked to a man who's face was cut up by glass who survived because he had gone downstairs to get himself a bagel and coffee before starting his day, he had no idea what happened to his co-workers. We watched as people who on a normal day would not give the other a second glance step forward and lend a hand. My wife and I waited for 4 hours so we could get a train into New Jersey. Police and bomb squads had to walk the tunnel connecting NY and NJ before they would allow any trains through. On a normal day, people are always pushing and stepping on each others feet, but on that day, it seemed there was plenty of room for everyone no matter how packed it got. We huddled around the windows when we came out of the tunnel and looked at the end of Manhattan Island, the tip engulfed in a cloud of smoke. It was an open wound, a gouge ripped into the face of our city. 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? I don't fly a flag, I never have. I don't fly one now. I don't think you have to in order to feel the pull many people did and still do towards their country. It's a level of solidarity and unity that I have never seen before. 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 nmah208.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. 2002-08-19 IP Address The IP address of the device used to submit the item. 160.79.51.174