Has it really been 7 years? It feels like just yesterday that Erin came running into my room to drag me out of bed. (My roomie at BYU) I remember her saying something about a my home being attacked and then she plopped me down on the couch in front of our TV... my world fell apart. Some of the first images I saw were of my highschool, about 3 blocks away from the WTC. The students and teachers were being evacuated, they were running up the riverwalk along West St. While I didn't recognize any student faces, I did spot a few teachers I knew.. and then Tower 1 started to fall and the plume of debris and smoke enveloped them all... leaving the static you get when you lose transmition momentarily... I will never EVER forget the horror I felt in that moment. Then the panic... My mom... she was working downtown that day... was she anywhere nearby? The frantic phonecalls began... my brother, my godparents, family friends... all calling me to ask if I'd heard from my mom. I had no answer for them, just the same exact question. My dad was in Uruguay, so he was unreachable for a long time. It took hours to hear from her... she was amongst the many that had to walk home, across the bridges. What about my friends? Where were they? Could they have lost anyone? Could I lose any one of them? It took days to hear from many of them, as they were spending most of their free time down at ground zero, helping with recovery, waiting with loved ones who had someone missing. My highschool was later used as a base of operations during the recovery efforts, and later as a morgue.
I was saddened by the lack of coverage by the media today. I'm sure its a different story back home, but here in OK it was pretty much business as usual, with the occasional, "Oh... its 9/11 isn't it?" from my patients as they asked the date while filling out a check. I suppose those not affected by this horrible trajedy can afford to forget.
I cannot.
4 comments:
I was somewhat surprised by the lack of coverage today, as well. And it's funny, I think this is the first year since 2001 that there hasn't been extensive coverage by the media, and it's also the first year that I really would have liked to see some. I guess it's finally been long enough that I want reminders.
I'll never forget that day because I was with you. The BYU ROTC stood guard at the flag pole all day again (they do it every year on 9/11) and it really impresses me. I had a perfect view of the flag and the guards all day at work and I thought of you.
I know you don't have cable anymore, but the History Channel had several excellent documentaries playing all day. I would recommend you watching a few of them. They were very good and I'm glad I took the time to watch.
We watched some that night actually. (Still do have the Dish b/c Ben keeps forgetting to cancel it)It's still so hard to watch, but its almost like I need to, know what I mean?
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