It's so hard to believe that it's been 10 years since September 11th or the term 9-11 became something that evokes memories of airplanes slamming into buildings, the World Trade Center towers collapsing down into themselves and dark smoke blotting out the skyline of Manhattan.
Then, the terrifying news that there was a bomb at the Pentagon. Which later turned out to be a plane. As it was happening there was so much information being reported that alot of it was either completely wrong or the details were incorrect.
The fourth plane went down in a field in Pennsylvania and it was later thought to be heading for either the White House or the Capital.
Along with the thoughts of the bad things that happened that day, there also comes to mind some heart-warming emotions. The bravery of the all the people who gave their lives for others as well as the heroic rescues that continued for days afterwards. Also, the way people came together to help others, sharing their emotional burdens with them.
I would like to share my personal journal entries from that day and a couple days afterward.
9/11/01
September 11, 2001 is certainly going to be a day that goes down in the history books. Today four commercial planes were hijacked and crashed into various places. The first two crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. The third into the Pentagon and the other in Pennsylvania in a field, but they think it was probably destined for somewhere else.
The coverage has been on all day. They're saying it was a terrorist attack but no one's stepped up to claim it.
It's been scary today. Just because you were never sure what might happen next. Hopefully it's over. My state is in a state of emergency. Every airport in the US has closed. That happened this morning after the second plane crash. They closed most businesses early and evacuated all the high rise buildings downtown.
It is absolutely horrific what's happened today. My heart goes out to all the victims and their families. The Twin Towers collapsed. It looks like they were never even there. I've been watching the coverage non stop since I got home from work and although I know what happened and it is slowly sinking in, there is still this shocked disbelief that goes along with it. I know it's nothing compared to the people that were/are actually there but [that's how I feel.]
9/13/01
Well, the news coverage since Tuesday has been non-stop. I've been watching whenever I can. Yes, you hear alot of the same stuff over and over again, but you never know when something new will develop. I've even been listening to Talk Radio news programs the last couple days.
This is my generations historical event. We've been through other crises but none that happened virtually in our own backyard.
On Tuesday it didn't really hit me until I started to hear the personal accounts of people. And that's when it upset me. Before that it was bad, sad, horrible, all those things and more, but to hear people talk about loved ones that called them just before their planes went down was heartwrenching.
Yesterday, but especially today, since the smoke has finally started to clear you can really get a good look at what the downed buildings look like. They're gutted and split. It's incredible. Where the World Trade Center stood is just a mass of twisted, mangled metal, covered with gray dust. It's just everywhere.
9/17/11
This whole idea of war is really scary. The more I think about it the more bummed out and freaked out I get. Maybe it was naive, but I really didn't think anything like this would happen in my lifetime. I guess I had thought about it, but it's one of those things that are entirely different when you think about it, compared to when it actually happens.
Hopefully everything is going to be alright. But, it's weird. It's like things have really changed since the attacks happened. Not so much in the literal sense because I'm still doing the same things I always have, I guess it's my mentality. I know when I see a plane in the sky now (which are few and far between, by the way) it freaks me out a little bit. It's no longer, Oh, that's just a plane. Now it's more like, There's a plane, I wonder if it's getting ready to crash into something. F--king crazy. F--king scary.
So I wonder how things will have changed once this is all over with? And will it ever be all over with? Even once this is taken care of will there always be the threat of more attacks?
***
Now, ten years later I know that at some level this war will probably always go on, and it probably always was going on in one form or another. I know that in May our wonderful Navy Seals took out Bin Laden. I no longer feel the same fear when I see a plane transverse the sky, at least not to the same degree as in the beginning. But, I have never forgotten, nor will I ever, the events of September 11, 2001 and the impact that they had on me and the entire rest of the world.
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