From a post I wrote 6 years ago today.
The people of my parents generation have always said, "I remember exactly were I was when Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot" or "I remember where I was when John F. Kennedy was shot."
And people of my generation have said "I remember where I was when Marvin Gaye was shot."
And the people of my generation now have an additional "I remember" moment. ...
"I remember where I was the morning the terrorists attacked the World Trade Center."
I clearly remember where I was on that sunny and bright Tuesday morning of September 11, 2001.
My job, which I'd just begun three weeks prior to that day, had sent me to Denver, Colorado to a Regulatory Science training course. I'd arrived from Atlanta that Sunday, September 9th, and was to stay the entire week. Early that Tuesday morning, I'd arrived to class in a conference room in the lobby of the hotel about five minutes late. I'd been upstairs in my hotel room dealing with a nose bleed. I was having trouble adjusting to the high altitude.
One of the instructors was finishing up a special announcement. I caught the tail end of it. He was saying something to the effect of "We'll keep you posted on the situation in New York."
I didn't ask anyone what was going on. I knew there was a hurricane swirling somewhere off the upper east coast, and I remember thinking to myself "Damn, that hurricane has hit New York!"
Class went on for a couple of hours until it was time for a break. The lead instructor got up and made another announcement...
"The World Trade Center Twin Towers have collapsed. They've been destroyed. They're gone."
Again, I remember thinking, "A hurricane destroyed the twin towers?"
During our fifteen minute break time, I went to the hotel bar. I remembered that it had a big screen television. I asked the bartender what was going on. He said that some airplanes had hit the World Trade Center.
I remember wondering how and why would some little crop dusters fly into the World Trade Center? But after watching the footage over and over during my break, I quickly realized that those were no crop dusters. They were huge airplanes. I was shocked and horrified. Just like everyone else in the country probably was.
I returned to class. The lead instructor said that if we had anyone in New York that we needed to check on, we had permission to go and make calls. No one left. We continued with our class.
I remember spending my lunchtime and most of the evening hours after class watching the news, not believing what I was seeing and hearing. Terrorists had brought down the World Trade Center Twin Towers.
That next day in class, the instructor said that if anyone wanted to leave, then they could leave. How could we leave, though? All air traffic was halted. Someone said that rental cars were not available. And two Amtrak trains had collided one state over in Utah, so train service was temporarily halted.
We were all stuck. We decided to continue the class. So I was in Denver the rest of the week, still trying to adjust to the higher altitude, fighting with my nosebleeds and constant dry mouth.
And also trying to adjust to the fact that terrorists had attacked the USA.
I called worried family members to let them know I was alright. I also called my new boss to let her know I was okay. People in class were struck with a fear of flying back to their homes, but I decided to just pray about it and have a little faith.
The class ended one day early because some of the instructors couldn't make it to the class due to flight cancellations. I left Denver that Friday. I wasn't afraid to fly because I'd spent the week praying and thanking God in advance for a safe trip home. So my faith was high. My flight was only two hours delayed, but it went smoothly. I must say, though, I was more than happy to see Atlanta again.
So today, September 11, 2005, I take time to remember one of the most tragic events in our country's history. I say a prayer for the families of the victims of one of the most tragic events in American history. This day has to be terribly hard on them.
And most of all, I hope and pray that terrorists will never strike our country again...
Thoughts... 10 years later.
I have been a bit choked up the last couple days, as there are specials detailing the countless stories of people who were lost on this day, a full decade ago.
10 years have passed. And it is all still fresh in my mind. I know it is much fresher in the minds of those who were there that day, and lived to tell about it, and in the minds of those who lost people that day.
It was a day where it felt like the world stopped.
Sudden. Tragic. Unexpected, like a thief in the night.
It took a couple of days for it all to sink in. I remember sitting in my chair, in a training class, listening to someone's intricate regulation jargon concerning my job... sitting there thinking in the back of my mind....
Did that really just happen.
I was even more concerned and shaken by something that I don't talk about that happened with me a couple of days prior to my own flight. I think I just wrote it down somewhere, because it was just disturbing.
I always pray over my own flights before leaving. I have my Prayers that Avail Much book, a book that I have given away to many folks in the past and here on blog. There's an interesting prayer for travel in there. Normally, I just pray that prayer, and keep it moving and travel.
But I remember that day, on September 9th, being upset about something... I remember thinking "Now Lord, if I ain't suppose to get on this plane, you better holler back, let me know something." But there was silence. Nothing.
I remember frowning, scratching my head, getting up from my seat and going over to the window, staring out at my plane. I didn't know what was wrong, but I wanted to holler, "Can go out and lay hands on the nose of this airplane and pray?"
Yeah. THAT woulda got me escorted out by security super fast.
I kinda just stood there, and peered out the window. Prayes some more.
But still that internal "upsetness". I don't know how else to explain it.
Needless to say, I got on my plane (and was sitting there staring out the window, and a little at people around me)... got to Denver, took the 45 minute shuttle ride to my hotel, and settled in for the evening. I thought about how I felt, and was still feeling... and chalked it up to gas.
But when it sank in later that week, I remember understanding that was the reason I was upset.
Hogwash! You may yell.
Really? Hmmm....
I remember all the fear people around me was feeling. I was a little more calm, since I'd been praying anyway. My prayers are my peace. I remember my boss calling from Atlanta saying "You so calm!"
Yes, I was. Reflective, yet calm. And understanding the whole concept of an upset spirit.
I honestly must say that I don't want to feel that way again. That strong internal nagging in the spirit. I have felt small vestiges of it over the years, most notably when someone close is about to pass away. I have to admit that I must respect those feelings, and pay more attention to them. And act accordingly.
And it is one of the reasons why this is a year where I am working on the removal of mental and emotional clutter from my life.
I know I went to church that next Sunday, after returning from travel. I remember my pastor commenting that he had never seen that many people at a church service, a Wednesday night bible study service (the day after the tragic event), ever. Shows where we run to when tragedy happens.
And he asked an interesting question:
Did some of ya'll feel a strange something going on inside of you, days before this awful thing happen?
A lot of murmuring went on. We talked much of that, about the why behind that happens. I found that interesting.
Hmm...
On this day, I think of that tragic event in our country's history. I, like you, know exactly where I physically was, and what I was physically doing when it happened.
And I quietly remember what was going on with me spiritually when that happens. The quiet internal mourning spirit.
I also remember something else that I know to be true:
It is not only the even that is tragic... it is the ongoing the RESIDUAL effects that are also tragic.
Events are sudden. Residual effects of that tragedy are not sudden, but long lasting... haunting.
I remember a Bin Laden quote afterwards, something to the effect of "Look at America... fear to the east, fear to the west."
And that was part of the point. The point was not only a terroristic catastrophic attack, but also the impartation of fear.
Fear is a residual effect... from it springs anger, revenge... a whole plethora of bad fruit.
And you know, like I know, it changed the way everything is done. Security is now different. The country is now different.
Personally, I had to really work on myself. Little stuff like not looking at someone of middle eastern descent like they were crazy.
Our emotions were affected... still are. Such a bad residual effect.
Those are my thoughts for this day... 10 years later.
I am thankful something like this has not happened again. I was talking a few years ago with a fellow blogger, and I know his expertise, and he knows my expertise, and man oh man... it is something else that nothing like this has happened again. It is too simple to get your hands on chemical, biological, and/or explosive stuff. Too simple. I had amazed that it hasn't happened again. In 10 years, it hasn't occured. Nothing close to it.
Because terroristic attacks happen on a weekly basis, looks like, overseas, don't they? Don't much time pass until you hear someone strapping on explosives and walking into a cafe, etc... and blowing themselves and everything else around themselves up.
We live in a country where that doesn't happen. Yet the things to make it happen are more readily available here.
I am thankful that it don't go down like that. VERY thankful.
Those are my thoughts on this day, September 11, 2011.
I leave you all with your own thoughts. I know we all have them.
I hope you will share with me... or take some time of quiet reflection.
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