Writer's Block: 9/11
I was living in Pennsylvania and I was at work at the time. We had one of those little TV Tuner radios on listening to the Today Show or some soap opera on NBC, my co-worker and I did this everyday, suddenly breaking news changes the topic and they announce that one airplane had hit the towers. The newscasters comments only involve mechanical failure or some sort of medical issue with the pilot, not even fathoming the possibly that it could be a terroristic act and during the conversation the second plane hits, live on TV through my little radio I can hear the fear and bewilderment in the voices of the newscasters and what would normally have been only me and my one coworker listening to the Today Show was now the entire floor stopped and listening to what was occurring, the volume raised now and everyone just standing around in complete shock as it unfolded and the reality of the situation hit; eventually we gathered our composure and almost instantly we were each on our cell phones frantically calling loved ones and making sure that everyone was alright, especially me being from Chicago and the city being a possible target. Eventually the company closed down for the day and sent everyone home but this was only after the entire company sat in our conference room watching the news unfolding still, now the devastation of it all, we sat there watching in silence for more than two hours, changing the channel between major networks, thinking that Dan Rather is a complete idiot for some of the slightly insensitive comments that he made. Everything was so surreal ... the plane crashing in Pennsylvania, the Pentagon, the death toll, Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, terrorism...we were transfixed to the television and the internet for weeks after that, like a nightmare that wouldn't end, an addiction forcing us to continue watching and still not believing that it actually happened. Finding out how unprepared and unsecured that entire world was about air travel and security as a whole. Now I think about the changes that 9/11 brought about, what fear made us do as human beings, fear is such a strong driving sentiment that it does not always allow us to think rationally and clearly, the religious discrimination, believing false hoods of weapons of mass destruction, becoming a bully more than a police force for other countries, flying is still a nightmare...who could image that ten years ago we would be subject to full body scans, removing shoes, CCTV, and all of the other stuff that has become so normal and common place in the world today.
The image of that day is burned in my memory forever, like a video clip that can never be erased ... today is the anniversary and I cannot bring myself to watch anything 9/11 related ... I do not need ceremonies, documentaries, or anything else to remember that day, I could never forget that day...