In Memoriam of 9/11 Concluded

In Memoriam Part VII

"People from 83 different countries died at the World Trade Center, so it wasn't just an attack on America, it was an attack on much of the civilized world.  Nobody deserves to die, nobody in that building deserved to die.  I mean, they were just doing their jobs.  They were showing up, working the restaurant, cleaning the building or delivering something, or trading stocks or trading bonds.  We should consider all them heroes or patriots.  They gave their lives pursuing the American dream."

Writes Amarilys Barnett, aka Amarilys By Morning (up from san antone) On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was working from home. I had seen a couple of headlines online about a plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers but frankly, had not paid much attention. Until my then-boyfriend-now-husband, Rhett, called to ask if I was watching tv. I raced to the television just in time to hear and see the news about a second jet plowing into the towers.


No one knew what to make of it. There was a collective haze across the country that was clearing up with every second we watched those plumes of smoke to reveal the fact that we were being attacked. It was a stunning revelation. Attacked? On our own ground? Not even in our wildest dreams and yet here we stood. Stunned.

I remember watching the towers collapse live on television. I wept. At the time, we thought that the casualties would be in the tens of thousands so I wept for the people that I watched die in real time right there on my television. My mother called and I was crying. It was literal disbelief over the events being broadcast.

The world stopped. At least in the United States. I didn’t work the rest of the day or even the rest of the week as I recall. I simply watched television and scoured the internet for updates. I talked to friends who did much the same. It was impossible to get any work done without thinking of those images. Images that are seared in my brain for the rest of my life.

The planes crashing. The towers collapsing. The United flight crash site. The Pentagon rubble. Pictures of Osama Bin Laden. Chilling scenes of jumpers. It was and still is beyond comprehension.

I was scared. No one knew what was happening. What else did these people have planned? More planes? A ground attack? Where would they strike next? Another major metropolis? It was a troubled time, indeed.

It took months before our lives would bear any resemblance of normalcy. That normalcy could be better described as a new normal. A normal that included new airport security measures. National Guardsmen carrying their weapons for all to see. A heightened sense of awareness for your surroundings. My husband and I even reported a moving truck parked next to the water works in our area because it looked abandoned. …and now, that new normal has evolved in just our normal. I hope we never have to get used to another new normal. God bless America.

So, that's it for this go-round... I was wondering today how many more years I'll do this on my website.  Not that I don't want to discuss it, that's not it at all, but there's only so much that can be said before I start repeating myself (which I'm sure I've done ad nauseum). 

However... if you, the reader, ask for it, then I shall continue.  Thanks for remembering with me.

(thanks to Amy, Wookiee and Amarylis by Morning (up from San Antone) for contributing)