story20727.xml
Title
story20727.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2006-09-11
911DA Story: Story
I was starting a new job that morning, which is why I was up early. My alarm came on to the radio station, and they were doing the news and talking about smoke coming out of one of the towers and maybe a small plane had crashed.
I got up and ran to turn on the television and watched the scene. The local channel was picking up live feed from New York of the towers but giving their own commentary, and speculating that there must have been an accident or something, but that on such a clear, sunny day the only way that a plane could accidentally hit the tower was if there was mechanical failure of some sort.
And then, on live television, I watched with millions of others as the second plane hit the WTC. That was when it became clear that this was no accident. We were under attack.
I finished getting ready for work and drove to the new job, all while listening to reports of a plane going into the Pentagon, of first one and then the other tower falling, and of a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Somehow it just didn't seem real, though. I mean, there I was at a new job, learning their system and their procedures, while our very way of life was being changed forever. That day was spent half-heartedly taking notes while listening to updates from other employees who had radios. It wasn't until I got home and watched the live scene on television that it hit...the World Trade Center was gone, the Pentagon was badly damanged, and America would never be the same.
I still work for the same company, in the same office and the same department, and in the last five years I've seen how life has moved on. In the days immediately following the attacks, there were flags and pictures everywhere about 9/11 and getting those responsible. Now, comic strips, signs about benefits and various flyers cover the cubicles, but still, once in a while, there is a little picture of an eagle weeping, the towers burning in the background. Or of a fireman, sitting on a curb crying for his lost comrades. Of the twin towers, standing so tall, with 'Wish you were here' written beneath them.
Yes, we have moved forward, but I don't think a day goes by without some thought to that day, and to what was lost.
I got up and ran to turn on the television and watched the scene. The local channel was picking up live feed from New York of the towers but giving their own commentary, and speculating that there must have been an accident or something, but that on such a clear, sunny day the only way that a plane could accidentally hit the tower was if there was mechanical failure of some sort.
And then, on live television, I watched with millions of others as the second plane hit the WTC. That was when it became clear that this was no accident. We were under attack.
I finished getting ready for work and drove to the new job, all while listening to reports of a plane going into the Pentagon, of first one and then the other tower falling, and of a plane that crashed in Pennsylvania. Somehow it just didn't seem real, though. I mean, there I was at a new job, learning their system and their procedures, while our very way of life was being changed forever. That day was spent half-heartedly taking notes while listening to updates from other employees who had radios. It wasn't until I got home and watched the live scene on television that it hit...the World Trade Center was gone, the Pentagon was badly damanged, and America would never be the same.
I still work for the same company, in the same office and the same department, and in the last five years I've seen how life has moved on. In the days immediately following the attacks, there were flags and pictures everywhere about 9/11 and getting those responsible. Now, comic strips, signs about benefits and various flyers cover the cubicles, but still, once in a while, there is a little picture of an eagle weeping, the towers burning in the background. Or of a fireman, sitting on a curb crying for his lost comrades. Of the twin towers, standing so tall, with 'Wish you were here' written beneath them.
Yes, we have moved forward, but I don't think a day goes by without some thought to that day, and to what was lost.
Collection
Citation
“story20727.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed April 7, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/8565.