9/11 has become the new Kennedy assassination event.
I can remember people saying, "Where were you when Kennedy was assassinated?" and then a long story would ensue. It always bothered me that I couldn't remember where I was - I assumed I was at home with my mom, doing something that a young toddler would do.
Then I found out it happened 18 months before I was born - go figure.
Now the question has become, where were you when you heard about the attack?
I was milling around my ladies Bible study room, getting ready for the study to begin. It was 9:15 a.m. on that Tuesday morning and the women were just starting to trickle in. There were two new ladies attending the church at that time, Carla and Lucy. I didn't really know them well. They came bustling in the room and pulled me aside.
"We just heard on the radio that two planes flew into some buildings in New York City. We thought you should know."
I'll never forget the look in their eyes.
What? Two planes? The room was filling with women and there was a bit of a buzz, plus a lot of confusion - were there two planes or did a plane hit two buildings? As I quieted the women down to start the study, we decided to pray for the families of the people on the planes and for the people in the buildings.
Ten minutes later our building manager knocked on the door. The Pentagon was also hit. I think that's when it hit me. I don't know why it took me so long but hearing that Washington was a target made my heart sink into my stomach. We stopped the study and prayed for President Bush and our leaders. We prayed for the families again and we prayed for ourselves. It was a very strange feeling.
We did finish the study that morning. I can remember calling Dave on the way home. He had gone and picked up our son at the local high school. They assured him in the office that Calvin was safe, but Dave said to them, "He needs to watch the coverage of this. This is a turning point in the history of our nation."
The rest of the day we all sat glued to the television. Do you remember when the towers fell? Do you remember the smoke and debris filling the streets? Do you remember the people running for their lives? How about the brave fire fighters who risked and lost their lives that day? What about all the amateur camera footage? The people holding pictures of their loved ones as volunteers sifted through the rubble?
What a time for our nation.
So, please comment for me. Tell me where you were when you heard about the attack. Keep it short, but this is a good exercise in remembering.
One final note - the verse that stayed in my mind during those initial days was from II Timothy 1:7 - "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline." I told my ladies at study, "We are believers in Jesus Christ. We have nothing to fear. The world needs to see a different reaction from us that what they are seeing around them."
It was a powerful time for a testimony, don't you think?
hi..i was in my bedroom getting dressed and had on abc goodmorning america. i thought it was a preview for a new movie coming out. then i realized it was more than a movie preview. i knew at that moment that something terrible was wrong and got a sick feeling in my stomach. horrific days ahead for our country.
ReplyDeleteI was at work. We don't have a t.v. there so we listened to it on the radio. I remember feeling very sad& scared, terrified actually
ReplyDeleteI was horrified that something like this happened in the USA. Didn't really think it could until it did. A very very sad day.
I had just begun the homeschooling day, was pregnant and babysitting when the phone rang It was my sister in Ontario calling to say, "I think your country's under attack." I remember praying with Dane and then turning on the tv to find out what was going on.
ReplyDeleteI was planning to work 11-7 that night, so had slept in till about 8:30. After I got ready, I turned on the tv to see the special reports on Good Morning America, and then watched things unfold. I saw the second plane hit the World Trade Center. It was the beginning of an unreal day. We gathered with many people in our town to pray that evening.
ReplyDeleteTim was working kind of a swing shift/grave yard shift at that time. He got home from work and turned the TV on. He came and woke me up, told me I needed to see this. I then got Ben and Annie up, they were in high school at the time. We sat watching, in disbelief...I just knew many had lost their lives. And then to see people jumping out of the buildings before they collapsed...
ReplyDeleteI was cleaning up the breakfast dishes and the boys had turned on the t.v. to watch PBS until I was finished. Before they could switch the channel I heard the tone in the news anchor's voice and knew something awful was unfolding. I stood there in front of the t.v. and watched the second plane hit the tower. When the first tower fell, my knees just buckled and I started to cry. I remember how confused the boys were and Alex asking, "What's wrong Momma?"....I pulled them into my lap and said, "Oh Honey, you have no idea how many people just died."
ReplyDeleteI was to meet a friend that I was mentoring on a weekly basis to do a prayer walk over the area they were going to build their new home. As I was watching the TV that morning and saw the actual footage of the planes flying into the buildings, I was confused and numb, but decided to put it aside and go with the prayer walk, including praying for the many people/families that had lost loved ones. That afternoon, I went to our son's middle school field trip on the Muskegon lake's environmental experiment boat and continued to ponder what this meant and praying for the people that were suffering. I truly couldn't fathom the horror of what was going on in the midst of my "normal" life I was living. I don't think the grief hit me until that evening when I could begin to put together the reality of what happened that day.
ReplyDeleteI was cleaning my mini blinds when my husband called to tell me to turn on the t.v cuz a plane had just crashed into the world trade center. I remember thinking I'm to busy to watch t.v. and that some small plane had just mis calculated a flight plan. Then it hit home and the mini blinds took a back stage to the horror unfolding before my eyes.
ReplyDeleteKathy called me and said, "You need to turn on your TV." When I saw that second tower fall I gasped and said, "There are people in those buildings!!!" The tears began to flow.
ReplyDeleteI think that when I heard about the planes, I was picturing small two or four seaters. I didn't realize that they were fully loaded passenger planes, filled to the brink with gasoline. That's why I didn't respond much when I first heard. But one look at the news coverage and the reality really smacked me.
ReplyDeleteYou know, we remember the people in the buildings and on Flight 93 but there is not much discussion about the passengers on the other flights. This tragedy affected the whole world that day because there were families from many countries who lost loved ones.
I walked into Mr. G's class and he had the television on. He let us watch about five minutes of the coverage before he started class.
ReplyDeleteAnd, yes—even though Calvin was brought home to watch history unfold—I was left at school.
This is a "no-bitterness" zone. You were a sixth grader. Get over it.
ReplyDeleteYou are definitely right Kristen about the fact that we don't talk about the people on the other flights and every time I see footage of the planes hitting the towers I cringe and think to myself...if my child or husband was on one of those planes I would not want to keep watching it over and over again. It must reopen the wound for many.
ReplyDeleteAnd the dialog between you and Katherine made me laugh!
ReplyDeleteSeventh. :)
ReplyDeleteoops...I meant you were acting like a sixth grader...
ReplyDeleteI'll come back to this conversation after I ice that burn. :)
ReplyDelete