In a continuation of my series of posts on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, The following is a more detailed account of the events of September 11, 2001 as I remember them today.
The Tuesday morning of September 11 was a beautiful, clear cloudless day on the Nazareth campus. In the early morning it was slightly crisp as one would expect on an early fall day. The light chill was just enough to require a jacket, but I hurried off to my 8:00AM Freshmen English class without it.
My class was an 80 minute Tuesday/Thursday class held in Carrol hall. Technically it was in a trailer in the parking lot adjacent to Carol hall containing two temporary classrooms. Upon arriving at Nazareth a few weeks earlier, I was astonished I had to take a class in a trailer after all the money I was spending in tuition! Much like most Americans that morning, I followed my normal routine and paid attention in class unknowing of the events that were unfolding in the skies above my head.
At 9:20 AM after class was dismissed, I chatted briefly with Drew after class. He was coming to a second section of the same English class as I was leaving so we typically chatted a bit each morning. Drew asked me if I had heard about the events in New York City. By this point, both WTC towers had been struck by planes but I don’t think Drew had herd about the second plane (I could be wrong). All I could think was “How could a pilot accidentally hit such a big building? What a tragic mistake.” Drew suggested terrorists, but that just didn’t make sense to me. People who hijack airplanes ask for a million dollars ransom, not crash into New York City, right?
I wandered through the narrow section of grass behind Carrol hall towards the second floor of Smyth Hall for Dr. Hallahan’s Freshmen Biology lab at 9:30AM. Some seemed somber and concerned while others knew nothing. Everyone had differing levels of knowledge of the events. I promptly began carrying out the assigned experiments for that day’s class. Seven minutes into class, Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon and 5 minutes later the FAA grounded all flights.
At some point just before 10:00AM, before the collapse of the South tower, Dr. Temple (one of my favorite biology professors at Nazareth) came in and was quietly discussing the events with Dr. Hallahan. While I was practicing my pipetting technique, Dr. Temple addressed the class telling them that two hijacked planes had crashed into the World Trade Center towers with a third crashing into the Pentagon. All flights had been grounded but there were unconfirmed reports of more hijacked planes. In the skies above us, the fight for Flight 93 was unfolding at 9:57AM. Afternoon and evening classes had been canceled. We were free to complete our work and head back to our dorm rooms to contact our loved ones.
Several people left. Some were actually excited because they didn’t want to be stuck in a boring Biology Lab any more. Not comprehending the full weight of the situation, I wrapped up my experiments (South Tower collapses at 9:59AM), packed up and casually left class sometime around 10:20AM (Pentagon collapsed 5 minutes prior). Walking back to my dorm room I thought “How bad could this really be? A few hundred people probably died on each flight. They will put out the fires. We will fix up the Towers and Pentagon and things will be as good as new.” The North Tower collapses about the time this thought is running through my mind.
I return to my hot, uncomfortable corner room on the fourth floor of O’Connor 2. My roommate Brian was not there. Of course I wanted to know what was going on, so I turned on the TV. Having just moved in a few weeks prior, I could not remember what channel CNN was located on. I actually had to search around for the channel listing we were provided when we moved in! Then I could not find the remote! Standing no more than 2 feet from the TV I manually flipped to CNN.
There have been very few instances of this happening to me in life, but my jaw actually dropped when I reached CNN. I gasped. I physically took two steps back in shock. On one half of the screen I watched looped footage of the towers falling, on the other, live footage of a permanently changed skyline of New York City with a monstrous dark grey cloud over it… no Twin Towers.
Suddenly… this was serious.
Then began the phone calls. Dad… no answer at work. “It’s ok, he’s a machinist working at a secure facility, he will be fine.”, I thought. Mom… got ahold of her. As a secretary at Lake Shore High School where I had just graduated, she was doing her best to keep the kids calm. I learn dad’s company went on lockdown. I learn that my younger brother… witnessed the second plane hit the South Tower on live TV.
My thoughts then begin to turn to others who I may know in New York City. Heather… a classmate from Lake Shore who is attending New York University. My Nazareth classmate Andy’s friend Josie… also attending NYU. Sarah, a new friend we made at Nazareth… whose mother worked at the WTC. Her mother was 15 minutes late for work that day. She survived because of this. As the day continued, the web continued to grow. Everyone somehow knew someone who was there.
As the number of firefighters and first responders killed in these attacks became apparent, my thoughts turned to several of my friends from High School who were very active in the local EMT and fire departments. In the days following I remember calling my friend Megan and telling her that I did not want her to be an EMT any longer for fear of losing her in an event like this.
As the afternoon of September 11 wore on, most of us stayed inside huddled together in front of the TV news channels, occasionally stepping out to make or answer phone calls. Learning the true depth of the events that happened that morning was too much. We sought release from this cruel world we woke up to that morning.
We learned that the MTV studios located in Times Square had shut down broadcasting. The silver lining to this was that the channel began to live up to its name and broadcast non-stop music videos. Normally they broadcast crappy shows that no one had any interest in but now we could enjoy some of our favorite music videos that we had not seen much of in years.
In the evening, we had rented some movies. They were comedies, though I can’t remember exact titles. “The Mask” sticks in my head as one of the movies we watched part of. Either way, there was not much laughing going on. I don’t recall seeing the president address the nation at 8:20PM that night. We had enough by that point.
As the night drew to a close, I remember trying to fall asleep concerned for what attacks tomorrow would potentially bring. Questions raced through my mind. No answers. I had no idea that this one day would put me on the path it has in the years to come.
No comments:
Post a Comment