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TA TALKS BACK: REMEMBERING 9/11

Posted September 11th, 2009 By: Team Switzerland 6 Comments »

We have a special TA Talks Back for you today from TA Staff Member BeckyInPhilly. Though it’s not Twilight related, September 11th, 2001 impacted us all and today’s edition of TA Talks Back tells the story of one person’s experience and how even now, 8 years later, we are still impacted and remembering that day. Not only do we have an awesome article from Becky, but she also provided us with a video she made which includes pictures she took on her visit to the site in February of 2002:

It was 8 years ago. That seems…wrong. That these unimaginable events happened at all is…well…unimaginable. But to think this much time has past since that day in 2001 seems unreal. To me, it still feels like this happened only yesterday. I can clearly see the images of the attacks in my head, as if I were watching the newscasts right now. It takes very little to bring to life the thoughts I had that day. Why did this happen? Who would do such a thing? But to think that there is a new generation growing up for whom the events of Sept. 11, 2001 are only a part of history is almost unbelievable. I am a teacher. I am reminded everyday how life changes and how the world changes and how time does not stop. But to know that I teach children who were not even ALIVE the day the attack occurred – it shocks me. We have a generation who did not witness this event in any way. They only know of it from textbooks, from stories. It is tragic, it is horrible, but it is the past.

Yet for me, it was and still is all too real. Not history, but now.

I was still in college. I was unaware that anything was happening, as I was getting ready to head to school to work my shift at the bookstore and then go to class. I did not watch the TV, did not have the radio on. I was completely unaware of the events that where happening until someone on the bus said something. I couldn’t believe what she’d said. “A plane did what? No. Not possible.” I grabbed my cell phone and called my mom at work. “Are you sitting down?” “Why?”

I arrived at school, in shock. Everyone in school seemed to be in the student lounge, yet it was quiet. Too quiet. The large screen television was tuned to some news channel, yet no one was complaining. They were riveted, watching the TV report. We watched the second attack happen. None of us could look away, not even when the Towers fell.

I am lucky in that I did not know anyone who was there. But a professor’s daughter had been scheduled for a meeting in one of the Towers that morning but had to cancel. So close.

I went to the site that February. It was………….I can’t describe the way it made me feel. There are too many emotions, not enough words to express them. But I will NEVER FORGET. I was able to get onto one of the platforms that had been set up for all of those who wanted to visit the site to pay their respects. I cried for all of those that lost their lives. For all of their families and friends. For those, like me, who had lost people they did not know that could have changed our lives.

I have uncles who are policemen and I thank them as often as I can for all that they do. And I thank those I’m related to and those I know who are in the Armed services for doing everything they can to fight for our freedom, our safety.

It will never been history for me. No matter how many years removed we are from it, it will always feel like it happened only yesterday.

I will never forget.

So TAers, do you have an experience with September 11th? Share your stories in the comment box below and talk back to us…







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  • Chris

    We will never forget.

    I can remember exactly where I was at the time I found out. It was 2 minutes after the first plane hit. So sad and tragic. Its as if it was just yesterday. Really, there are no words.

    God Bless America

  • Chrissy

    Thank you for writing that! I was a senior in high school in 2001, & I still remember it like it was yesterday. There are some images that will never leave your mind & I decided that day that I didn’t want them to. My husband is in the military & he risks his life for our freedom everyday! The people that died that day, & our Armed Forces are the reason we can’t forget! I think what you wrote will help people to remember or teach the younger ones about an overwhelmingly tragic day & a very important part of our history.

  • Chelle

    Eight years ago today, I was awoken by a phone call around 630 am by a family friend frantically asking me if my mom, grandma, 2 aunts and uncle were back home from NY. I was frazzled when she told me what was going on. I turned on the news. I frantically dialed my mom’s cell number, no answer.

    About a couple months before 9/11, my family planned to tour NY, I booked them a room at Marriott at the WTC. After booking the reservation I called back the hotel informing them that I had forgotten to mention a family/friends discount. Only by divine intervention that I was told that they would have to be re-booked at the Marriott at JFK instead. My family was scheduled to fly back to SF from JFK on 9/11/01. For the longest 5 hours, I had no idea if 5 members of my family were still alive (I knew they were touring downtown NY that morning). Finally my mom got a hold of us hours later. They became a part of history being on the first flight out of NY on 9/14/01 to LA and finally made it back home to SF that evening.

  • Tippy

    I was living in Casa Grande, AZ when 9/11 happened. I had stayed up very late the night before throwing myself a fantastic little pity party because I had had to drop my college classes again and was feeling pretty low. My mom woke me up at around 6:30am, which would have been 9:30 in New York and told me that two planes had flown into the World Trade Center in NYC. Ordinarily it takes me a good 10 minutes or so to wake up enough to engage in conversation or even get out of bed, but I understood immediately what my mom was saying and what it meant. I also knew that it was Al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden behind it.
    I very quickly walked down the hall to the living room and got my first glimpse of the second plane hitting. The part that hit me the most, and stays with me to this day is how the terrorists very deliberately banked that plane to the right at the very last second to take out as much of the tower as possible, trying to kill as many as they could. The fact that there are people capable of that level of evil will always disturb and sadden me.
    I spent the rest of the day and much of the following week glued to the TV, hugging my parents and my dog. I found escape in the Harry Potter books (only the first 4 were out at the time) and I tried to join the Army, but I had medical issues that prevented that. On my 21st birthday, October 7th, 2001, America launched the counter-attack in Afghanistan. Needless to say, my 21st was not as I had always imagined it would be.
    I know that I will never forget that day, where I was, how I heard the news, or the images that they played over and over again on tv. The planes hitting, the towers falling, people jumping to their deaths…I will NEVER forget.

  • Autumn

    Thank you for writing this!

    I will never forget that day. I was in 6th grade at the time. I remember one of the teachers running into our room and telling everyone to meet in the gym. They had a small tv and everyone was watching the news. I remember feeling sick. I couldn’t believe anyone could do that. My brother and his wife I had in one of the towers the month before.

    They had all the kids call their parents and go home. I remember watching the news the rest of the day and feeling so sad for all the families who just lost love ones.

  • Erenn

    My husband and I were both in the Marine Corps on 9/11/2001. We had taken a few leave days to extend our weekend and it was my habit to turn on Good Morning America first thing in the morning. I flipped on the TV to hear them talking about the first plane, and how it was a fluke… And then they showed live the second plane hit, and my instant thought was “We are under attack… here… on our soil! How can this be? We are the US and no one attacks us here!” We both called on base, lucky to get an open phone line and were told to stay put. They shut down operations for non-essential personnel, until the higher-ups could figure out what we needed to do. After about 2 hours of watching the tv, I started flipping channels to only find that one station wasn’t re-playing the horrible events of the morning. It was on every radio station, on nearly every tv channel…

    I was fortunate, and did not have any family or friends that were in or near the towers that day… However, my heart will always go out to those who did have loved ones there. We are all permanently altered by this day in our history.

 

 

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