It is hard to believe that it has been 5 years since this terrible, fateful day. I remember getting into my car to drive to work and turning on NPR and hearing that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. I pulled back into the driveway and ran inside and turned on the television. It was so unbelievably shocking…I left the house several times that morning only to turn around and come right back because I didn’t want to stop watching, and I didn’t want it to be real.
My intention was to post briefly about this and follow up with other things. As I searched for pictures, however, every site I came across included pictures of individuals jumping to their deaths, presumably because of the heat and smoke on the floors where the planes hit. Those images are so horrifying that I think the book reviews that are piling up and the passing of the first weekend of the NFL can wait.
I haven’t seen any of the films related to this fateful day. The previews alone make me weepy and I cried so much that day and the days that followed. I don’t know that I want to have that experience in the theatre.
Today I remember and send out prayers to the families of those whose lives were irrevocably changed on September 11th, 2001. God bless you, and God bless everyone.
(This image from 6 year old Jesse Westergard. All images from this site.)
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.
~ Payne
I can’t believe it’s been five years either!! Yesterday our pastor commented on how that day they said that our world wouldn’t be the same. Five years later we can truly say “Yes, our world is not the same!”
It’s sad and strange how time goes by but the memories are like yesterday. We really do still feel the effects of that day today.
September 11th was my due date with Elaina. Thankfully she was born a week early. I slept on the couch with her the night before. She was just six days old. I woke up to feed her and flipped on the TV and saw the very first reports and images. It was HORRIFYING! I’ll never forget that morning with my new baby. I was experiencing the joy of this new life while watching death and destruction. It was a very odd feeling.
I told James yesterday how very thankful I am to be born in this awesome country of ours. To be born a woman in the USA is to be born one of the most blessed women in the world.
God Bless the USA.
Thank you for this post. It is elegant and thoughtful and perfect for today.
I refuse to see 9/11 movies so far as well. Listening to the radio this morning
on the way into work brought me to tears, remembering this day, five years ago.
Courtney
Thanks Carl. That picture drawn by the child made me burst into tears.
Our oldest children are 8 and 10 and we just talked to them last week about what happened on September 11. They never knew much about it until then. (We told them about it because of the thwarted terrorist attacks that were going to happen from Heathrow a few weeks ago, and they asked about it).
It was a horrible day, but it could have been so much worse. So much.
My husband reminded me of that when we were explaining what happened to the children that usually those buildings were filled with 40,000 people. More than 3000 died; it could have been so many more.
Some people have asked where God was on that day. I believe he was keeping 37,000 people safe.
Watching some of the documentaries that have been on TV here in the last week or so, the footage still seems as surreal as it did five years ago. So very tragic.
Nice post. I can’t watch or listen to it all again. I still remember pretty vividly the first time around. I think it is too soon and very sad to make this all into a made for TV dramatization personally. I guess I still need my escapist comfort reading–it is too sad to relive all this.
This morning, the radio statio I always listen to in the AM replayed their broadcast from 9-11 in real-time– The exact same morning show I was listening to on that day. Surreal is definitely the word.
Wow Wayne, that would’ve been surreal.
Nice thoughts everyone. It is good to honor the heroes who lived and died that day with our remembrance.
That was the one time I couldn’t turn off the tv; like you I didn’t want to leave the house for fear I might miss something. Beautiful writing, as always, Carl.
At first, I felt the same about movies depicting the event. But the more I heard about Stone’s WTC (and was shocked that it wouldn’t be a conspiracy theory movie) or Greengrass’s United 93, I felt better about seeing them. I haven’t yet, but plan too.
I’ve also heard really good things about ABC’s Path to 9/11 miniseries.
I want to see the Nicholas Cage movie but I won’t see it until it comes out on DVD. I’m not that interested in the others.