story1100.xml

story1100.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-19

Early on the morning of September 11, on was on a rare visit home from Germany, where I have been living for the past couple of years, visiting my family with my fiance. My plan had been to go downtown into Washington, DC that morning, but my fiance had been so tired, I decided to let him sleep until afternoon.

Therefore I was working that morning. I had a job working as a reporter and community manager for an Internet site, where users could read and contribute summaries of breaking news stories. I was in the chat room, talking with a coworker, when a user came into the chat room quite excited. "Have you guys heard yet? A plane hit the World Trade Center," he said. My first thought was, 'OK, another newbie wanting help writing an article. What is he telling us for, just post the summary.'

A couple of minutes later, another user came into the chat and said, "Another plane hit the WTC. Bush is saying it's terrorism!" My coworker, who is rather cynical about governments, responded: "Yeah, Bush would say something like that!" My coworker and I tried to verify the story, but for some reason, none of the news websites would load.

About that time, the phone rang, and it was my sister, whose house I was staying at, calling from her car phone. "Have you heard?" she asked. "Yeah, about the WTC?" I said casually. "No," she responded, "about the Pentagon." She was on a bridge in Washington, DC and could see the Pentagon burning. It was at that moment that it hit me, something big and terrible was going on. I went absolutely cold. "Come home," I said. "Come home NOW." It was those words which woke my finace, and he went and turned on the television.

I tried to work for a while longer, but people came pouring into the chat room with one rumor after the next. The Capitol was hit, the White House was gone, a car bomb hit the State House. After a few minutes I couldn't stand it any more, and took the rest of the day off. I went downstairs to watch the news break on television. The newscaster said, "There's so much smoke, it looks like the tower is no longer there." Then a few minutes later, "Oh, my God, the tower IS no longer there!"

Then the lingering fear. The television announcers said there were two planes still unaccounted for. One of them eventually crashed in Pennsylvania, the other must have been a mistake. But for a long time, we had no idea where the planes would crash next, what would still be taken from us, if they would land on us or a loved one.

For days, there was absolutely nothing I wanted to do, other than watch television - a new experience for me. But I, like everyone else, wanted to know: who did this? Why? For what purpose? It was inexplicable, incomprehensible.

When we finally took our delayed trip into Washington a few days later, it was profound. I had never realized how much I took for granted the sounds of airplanes flying overhead. There was a lot to be proud of, too, in those days following September 11. Nearly all of the buildings were decked with American flags. On the steps of the Capitol building stood one lone man, in the heat and sun, holding a huge flag. There was a bomb threat which prevented us from entering the Capitol, but the man didn't leave his spot. It was absolutely inspiring.

Also, the attitude of the people made me proud to be an American. There was no call for blood, war, or vengeance. People wanted answers, and they wanted to know how to help.

In these days, I saw living proof of the phrase "One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all". And for all the fear and horror of those first hours, there is nowhere in the world I would have chosen to be, except home, with my family, in the suburbs of the Nation's Capitol.