This date has an impact, a significance that can never be measured. Every time I think of that date, I am transported to thoughts that are always at the forefront of my mind. Every American has a story. Everyone remembers what they were doing, what they ate, where they were going that fateful morning.
For me it started off like any other day in Brooklyn, NY, getting ready for work so that I can be there by 8am. At around 8: 45 a.m., we received a frantic phone call, “turn on the news” but we couldn’t. We were able to connect a radio and heard an announcer say, “Oh my God, it just hit one of the towers.” We were all so confused and frantic because we had no idea was going on and we just could not get a signal on the television or radio at that point to get information. Where I used to work we had a nice view of the New York City skyline. We looked out the window and we really could not see anything. We walked out of the building and towards our left we could see smoke coming from Manhattan. Everyone was now in panic mode trying to contact loved ones, trying to remember of anybody working around the World Trade Center. We were dismissed so that we can get to our children, husbands, wives, family. By this point we managed to get a signal and saw the second tower getting hit.
As we know, the aftermath of such a tragedy brought on the deaths of more than 2,500 people working at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and Philadelphia and rescue workers. Everyone banded together to be able to find everyone that was still missing, Those that survived, had compelling counts of trying to escape, being covered in soot and losing everything. Although I was not directly affected by 9/11, I had people in my life that I cared about that were. Soon after I moved to Florida, but as a New Yorker, that day will always be a day of showing respect to those that we lost. Every year New Yorkers have a commemoration ceremony that is watched worldwide. Everyone in America has their own way of remembering. A silent moment, a prayer, or a candle.
Post 9/11, our society has been changed. Some of us live life in fear and some of us live life as if there was no tomorrow. Just recently I moved back to the northeast and on August 23rd we had an earthquake hit, something that rarely ever occurs here. As I watched everyone trying to understand what was going on, they were panicking trying to contact their loved ones. I realized that we have not moved on from 9/11. Everyone was trying to connect to their Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, texting, faxing and calling, I saw where all these social mediums were born out of, loss. Our loss of communication on 9/11 and the need to find out what was going on was the norm. Safety was no longer present in our everyday existence. The threat of attack was always present in our actions, whether we were carefree or careless.
But no matter how we live, we are living and I am grateful for every moment of everyday that I have on this Earth. Whether I live in Miami or in Guam, for me I can never forget 9/11. There are never any words that can ever be written that are worthy but to all the survivors and to all that we have lost, may our hearts find relief in our tears. God Bless us all and God Bless America!
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