- George W. Bush
I was only a sophomore in high school when 9/11 happened. I was driving to school in the morning, and frequently, Rick Dees on KIIS FM 102.7 made some jokes for "Dees Sleeze" around 6AM ish. I remember thinking about having my mom call in after I got out of the car because a plane crashing into the World Trade Center in New York was absolutely the anti-christ of funny.
Turns out, that was no joke.
It was the only time in my life the same thing was on every single channel.
I wonder if the way we treat 9/11 now is the way that folks in the '40s treated World War II? They could remember exactly where they were and what they were doing when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
I think the most impressive thing to me about the entire situation, was 9 years ago tomorrow, on September 12: when I drove up and down my street, and almost everyone had a flag on the front of their house. Not the little ones you stick in the lawn for the 4th of July ... but the big ones.
That was patriotism to me. Coming together when it felt like everything was falling apart.
But it wasn't the plane flying into the towers that scared me the most. It was this:
The knowledge that whatever Hell was happening up there? Was too much for them to bear; when given a choice: they would rather plummet 90+ stories to their death.
I wrote about that today, too- thinking I was watching debris falling from the towers, and realizing in horror, that it wasn't debris at all. Some images will stay with us the rest of our lives, I think.
ReplyDeleteThat footage was probably the scariest for me as well. I couldn't believe it when I was watching it. Still such haunting images.
ReplyDeleteUgh...my son saw his first video on what happened on 9/11 on 9/10/2011. I think he understands a little bit better why daddy is gone for 14 months =/ I sat in tears the whole time on MSNBC on "9/11 as it happens." I was only in middle school when it happened. So it was actually my first time watching the whole event on tv with my oldest.
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