This week the topic is ‘Where were you and what did you do when you heard about the 9/11 attacks? What did you do to move on?’
I was driving my then 16 year old son home from school when I first heard the news on the car radio, as of course our time zone is several hours ahead here in the UK. My husband was at that precise time on a flight to Cleveland, Ohio. We were both stunned, and I pulled over onto a verge so that we could listen more easily to the breaking news. My son instantly asked me what was going to happen to his dad, but of course I couldn’t answer him.
When we arrived home we turned on the TV, which had blanket coverage of the disaster. American air space was closed, and we looked on in horror at the unfolding story. It wasn’t until the following day that Sam managed to phone to let me know his flight had been diverted to a small airport at St. John’s in Newfoundland, along with about 27 other jumbo jets. He stayed in the town for a week before flying back to the UK, receiving free phone calls, free hotel accommodation and free meals, and still talks about his stay to this day and how generous the people of St. John’s were to the sudden influx of travellers.
Later in the year it was time for him to go back to Cleveland to have another go at finishing the business trip. I didn’t want him to go and had visions of a further disaster, but I knew that nothing would keep Sam from his work. He flew out to Cleveland and home again without incident. Since then he has had hundreds of flights, indeed just at this moment he is in India on business, but I still have a nagging worry at the back of my mind every time he has to fly, and always tell him to take care. It’s good for him not to become too complacent!
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Stevie Turner 
Funny how everyone can remember what they were doing when 911 happened. I was watching a morning talk show sipping coffee when the station went to the planes going through the towers. I thought something was wrong with my TV, I didn’t know what to make of what I was seeing. And then when I realized it was real happening in real time I literally sat in shock and couldn’t move or speak, glued in focus to what was happening.
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Also I’ve read that people can remember what they were doing when they heard about the deaths of JFK and Elvis.
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Yes, me too. In fact, I was 4 when JFK was assassinated. I remember sitting in front of the TV with my younger brother. We were probably watching a kid’s show and the Breaking News took over with Walter Conkrite. I didn’t understand what happened but I was watching on TV. So no doubt others can remember.
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I was 6 in 1963 and don’t really remember anything about it unfortunately. I do remember watching Churchill’s funeral on TV in 1965 though, and looking over at my grandmother and asking her whether she would be dying soon!
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Isn’t it strange the way we interpret things when we’re young. But obviously we were like sponges because we both remember historical events at a young age, even though we may not have quite got the concept. 🙂
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I used to be a “road warrior.” It never bothered me to fly, but my husband worried constantly.He’d check the airline site and know I was on the ground before the plane even got to the gate sometimes. He’s much happier now that i switched jobs.
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I agree, it’s good not to get complacent, but still the worry niggles at the back of our minds. I haven’t flown since 911, not because of fear, but we travel by motorcycle. But, at this point in time, I have no desire to leave the US.
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I’ve flown a few times but must admit I’m not keen.
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Alaskans have to fly. We’re just too far away from everywhere else and through a foreign country to drive. So I have mostly gotten over that reflexive fear of flying that I had for a while after 911, but I admit, I’m more aware of where the exits are and I pay attention to travelers of a certain profile, which bugs me on a level where I hate bigotry, but then a Irainian-born friend said he does the same thing. To quote him, “If a pitbull bites you, you’re cautious of pitbulls from then on. It doesn’t means you hate pitbulls. It just means you remember the bite.”
I pray for an international healing for the rift that one incident highlighted, but so far, I don’t see a lot of evidence that it will happen in our lifetimes. Maybe our childrens’.
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More like our great-grandchildren’s? Too much hate in the world.
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Yeah, and too little effort to get beyond it. But I hold out hope even in the lack of evidence.
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I was at work. My practice at lunch time was to have a sandwich at my desk whilst reading the daily paper. The chap on the desk behind me was a member of an internet forum. One of the forum’s members posted a link to a video of the first plane crashing into the tower. A few of us crowded round to look at it. At that time the assumption was that it was just a terrible accident – then a second hit and we began to realise that it something planned and highly coordinated. It was my son’s 36th birthday and, as he said at the time, “what a terrible thing to happen on my birthday – I’ll always have the memory whenever my birthday comes around.”
I think it changed forever our perception of the gulf that exists between our Western civilisation and the rest of the world.
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Yes, I think you’re correct about that gulf and our perception of it. Up to that point, I think most people thought we could reason with them, maybe bribe them with foreign aid, but 911 made it clear that there is no reasoning with many in the Muslim world and no amount of bribery will change out they feel. Heck, the United States armed Al-Qaeda to fight the Russians and then they turned around and used what they learned from our CIA operatives to fly airliners into our civilian buildings.
I think its probably good that we woke up.
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