story3247.xml

story3247.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

Sep. 11, 2001 - I used to work for a state-funded children's insurance program. I got into work at normal time (which was a couple of minutes late) and the office was already buzzing. I paid no attention since I worked with 80% women and there was usually always a gossip buzz about something or someone. As background chatter, I heard someone say that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. My first impression was a small single occupancy plane accidentally clipping a building. I didn't really give it a second thought until I saw a co-worker crying. I walked up to my friend David and said something like, "Anna is being a drama queen. Some moron can't fly a plane...big loss." Then David replied, "Did you not hear what just happened? It was a jumbo jet...as in American Airlines or Delta." I immediately froze. I then asked, "Where did they say it crashed?" My mind had not yet made the towers connection. "In New York you idiot! The two big towers that stand out like sore thumbs?!" I think my next reply was- "HOLY SHIT." As we started looking for someone with a radio the buzzing got louder and louder. No one knew it was an attack just yet. Minutes later my entire department was huddled in a single cubicle where someone had a miniature television set. We sat there in silence as we listened to the cookie-cutter voice explain in sketchy but horrific detail what had just occured. The image was surreal. Smoke billowed from one of the twins like a charcoal painting. My mind could not picture a huge airliner crashing into the skyscraper. How on earth could that have happened. A drunk pilot? A computer malfunction?
As my head grew dizzy and I tried to find a rational explanation, the explanation came in the form of the second plane. I almost cried out. The women surrounding me took my screams and amplified them. All of a sudden, nothing was real anymore. I was at home in bed, having one of those dreams where you wake up and go to work only to wake up and realize it was all a dream. Only this time it was a nightmare.
PEOPLE. That was the next thing my brain would allow me to think. There are people in those buildings. They are all dead now. Or dying. Oh my God. Oh my God. What the hell is happening. The voice on the television said "...we are under attack..." That was when I realized how much of a foolish country I lived in. I was surprised but not surprised. We thought we were untouchable. I'm not sure if that will make sense to anyone but me but it's the truth. Chaos ensued at the children's health insurance firm. Crying, phone calls to friends who worked there, worry of more attacks, but most of all questions. What? Why? Who? HOW??? Everything was in turmoil. No one felt safe. Some people left to go home. Amidst all these horrible things happening we had no idea that there was still more to come.
When cowards crashed into the Pentagon a short time later I have to admit...I thought we were all gonna die in a huge nuclear explosion. With Bush as president and the given circumstances I thought for sure we were about to nuke the hell out of someone. The news about the Penn. plane came as a grim awakening to the fact that even the White House wasn't safe. All these things were overload for most people. Too much happened in too short of a time. Even now, a year later, people can recall exactly what they were doing, exactly where they were, and exactly what was said on September 11. I'm one of them. In a world where people like John Lennon, Martin Luther King, and John F Kennedy are killed for being great human beings, people should realize that there will never be world peace with so many different cultures, ideas, beliefs, and bullies.