[Untitled]

Smithsonian website

I watched the events of the morning of September 11, 2001 unfold on live television from my home in Boston. That morning, a roommate told me he had just heard on the radio that a plan had crashed into one of the World Trade Center Towers, and we turned on the national news. The live coverage on NBC showed the building, while the reporters discussed and speculated on the event. While I watched, the NBC correspondent at the Pentagon, Jim Miklaszewski, who was reporting, sounded visibly shaken and the audio picked up a loud noise at the Pentagon. As the events there and at the second tower transpired, I cried. And cried. And cried. All of my housemates, including my fiance, slowly returned home from work and campus to watch the news. We were glued to the 24/7 news cycle and the talking heads, dismayed, confused, and scared by the images on the screen.

Since that day, I cannot watch the video of the crash without an emotional response, and now I find myself quick to tears when I watch news coverage of human tragedy. I did not know anyone who lost their life that day personally, but I feel that a small part of each American died that day with the victims of 9/11. There is a new empathy for human pain and suffering, one that I am sure others too have experienced. Like many Americans, I have become accustomed to the heightened security measures. I have an emergency kit, initially purchased in the weeks after the attacks, that I still maintain... just in case. I keep water and batteries on hand, even in good weather. I keep my gas tank at least half full, and keep all my family's personal papers together to grab in case we have to leave the house quickly. I secured a passport for myself, and when my children were born, I made sure they had them as well. My kids will never know what it was like before 9/11, and for now - they are very young - I am trying to let them be children, to protect them from the fear and pain of the tragedy. Mostly, I try to control the things I can control.

I remember the unity and national pride that we as a country shared in the weeks and months immediately following the attacks and I am saddened that we seem to have forgotten that camaraderie and national purpose. I don't think that we as a country have come to terms with this tragedy, and I think it will be many years before we find the answers we are looking for.

On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, I plan to spend a quiet day with friends and family, and reflect on the events themselves. I am a history professor for a the local state university campus, and I have entreated my students to share their memories of the events that unfolded that day ten years ago in this digital archive as well.