Memories of 9/11

LIKE many people it was the terrible events of 9/11 and the need to find a place to vent and (somehow) try to make sense of it all which first brought me to blogging. I needed to be able to put what had happened into some kind of perspective. I wrote the entry below on the second anniversary of the day which changed the world forever.

“I remember it as though it happened yesterday. I must have had the day off work, because I came downstairs to switch on the TV for the lunchtime news and there it was right in front of me, right in my living room .... the full horror of it all. Those terrible images still haunt me now .... of the planes flying into the twin towers and coming out the other side. A millisecond later .... as if holding their breath for a moment .... the towers leant forward before crumbling into themselves and crashing down.

Over and over again the same pictures flashes across the screen .... like being stuck in some kind of surreal time warp .... while the news presenter tried his damndest to keep the shock out of his voice, but not quite succeeding.

I stood transfixed with the remote dangling from my limp hand. My brain kept telling me that something like this simply couldn't happen. My eyes were showing me that it just had.

I visualised those poor people stuck in elevators, looking certain death straight in the face. Terrified office workers marooned on the top floors, desperately trying to call loved ones .... only to find the telephone lines dead.... realising they were going to end up the same way.

I imagined a young secretary, 19 years old .... let's call her Sara .... left on her own in an office in unfamiliar surroundings. She'd only started her job two days ago and was hoping to climb far up the career ladder. Then there was Jeff .... he was 24 .... just come back from his honeymoon in the Seychelles after getting married three weeks ago. Mary, an office administrator, was going to have a half day, because it was her 55th birthday and she was going to visit her daughter in hospital who had given birth to her first grandchild the day before. Richard, 65 on Friday, was looking forward to his retirement after having been in the same job for forty years. Jason had received the results of his accountancy exams in the mail that morning .... he'd passed with distinction. He'd practically bounced into the office an hour ago knowing he could look forward to blossoming in his profession. His hard work would be rewarded by a pay rise and promotion. Now he'd be able to afford that bright red Chevy convertible he'd dreamt about for so long.

Dreams dashed, hopes slashed. Now there was nothing left, but rubble and ashes. Hundreds buried alive, dying, dead ... and the Manhattan skyline .... well that would never be the same again.”

11/09/06