9/11: A Personal Gallery of Words and Images

[Lancer]

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

1. This will be my first time in America since that infamous day ...

The night before September 11 , September 10 - I had a good night of sleep . I forgot to say my prayers that night before sleeping - so in a way I felt like I slipped into a parallel universe because of that ... little did I know what kind of day I would wake up into ... None of us did .

I remember that day all too well . I just had a wonderful lunch with my boyfriend and his mom . It was lovely sunny day in Europe where I was in Germany . I went up stairs to fold the laundry and watch MTV as I always did as a 21 year old lol . Suddenly something told me " Turn to CNN ... turn to CNN " . " Why are they broadcasting from CNN USA ? " I asked myself . I will never forget turning to CNN International - something in the back of my mind said turn to CNN . By the time I turned to the news the second plane had just hit the second towers. I was in a state of " nuh uh this is not happening " and I will never forget the moment when everything around me " stopped " ... Even to this day , I can not listen to the song that MTV was playing before I turned to CNN ... I ran all around the house telling everyone what had just happened ... Naive I had no idea of the impact of what had just happened . Naive I did not realize that this would lead to wars ...

Breaking News : There is smoke coming from the Pentagon ... this is when I knew that this was real ...

Suddenly the weather outside went from sunny to gray rain ... It was as if Mother Nature could feel the pain of what was happening in New York , Pennsylvania and Washington DC . The only people who could possibly not know what was going on at the time were the fish in the fish tank , the dog and I my little cousin who was 1 years old at the time . I envied them because of that . I envied them because they had no clue about the act of hell that had just been carried out . Innocence was all lost that day ... it will never be the same . Especially for me as an American living overseas . It took me 3 years to get up enough guts to get back on an airplane . ( I even flew over NY and a sense of calm came over me as I did . )

I will never forget listening to Aaron Brown's voice as the second tower fell to dust and ash ... I still can not believe those buildings are gone .

I remember watching every news channel that I could find to get as much information as I could . Flipping from CNN International , to CNBC Europe which went into CNBC America's Broadcast to RTL , N24 - I was in shock ... My uncle flies throughout the Northeast on business trips often . I prayed to God that I did not see his name scroll across the screen as one of those who were in the 4 planes . Thank God he was safe and sound with his new son in South Carolina .

The only way I could escape all of this was to sleep . And I also did something that I had not done in years : I slept with my teddybear . I slept with my teddybear because I did not have my family there with me to hug . LOL crazy but it worked . I called my family that night to let them know that I am alright . They were more worried about me , I was more worried about them . Thank God I have family .

I was about to fold the clothes before I cut the news on ... those clothes were not folded until 3 days later . All I could do was sit by the TV and hear the stories over and over again . 3 days went by before I moved myself from the TV .

Watching the people on TV with their signs with pictures of their loved ones - these looking into the camera , people who have not slept - looking for loved ones who remains were never found - I just broke down in tears . My heart still goes out to those people .

By that time I needed some kind of distraction from this horror. I could not then and I just could not believe now that someone did this to my country . I felt so helpless . I wanted to jump back on the next plane and help with the recovery effort . I wanted to hug my family who far away in North Carolina in the USA . I wanted to enlist in the service because I wanted to wring Bin Laden's neck myself . I agreed with invadiing Afghanistan but slowly I started to wake up , war is not the answer : see now , the Taliban is coming back . You here NOTHING about Afghanistan . Don't forget we still have troops there too .

Three years later and so many questions remain unanswered . We bombed both Afghanistan and Iraq for no reason . This date has been used to carry out monsterous plans in the name of OIL . This current administration has done nothing but wear blindsiders like the horses do , denying the truth . I think in honor of of the people who died on September 11 , we should vote the Bush administration out of office . Nothing else , we have to let them know that we will no longer be lied to anymore . Enough said . Light a candle again and pray for Change on November 2 .

[Lancer]

2. Well, it's just you and me, Peridot.

But yours is a poignant, beautifully told story.

All the cliches have been exhausted, but don't grow less truthful in the restating. Time stood still, nothing in our ordinary lives made any sense or any difference. For days and weeks I felt that way. I lit a candle every night, I who knew no one directly affected, really; I who have only been to New York twice in my 40 years. Yet the pain in the pit of the stomach was overwhelming.

I felt moved to find Scripture to help me make sense of the senseless, and poems, photos, quotations, movies, anything to remind me of what I loved about New York and what I hoped coud be so good about it again.

I was reminded of the exchange between columnist Mary McGrory and Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the death of JFK. Said she, "we'll never laugh again. . .". Moynihan replied, "we'll laugh again, but we'll never be young again."

Good night, Peridot. I truly believe the Change we so desperately seek will be ours on November 2.

[vajraroshana]

3. Nightowl's true confession

My normal sleep/wake schedule prior to 9/11 was 2am/10am. It had been for years.

For some reason I got up "early", actually very early (CST) and went online. After checking email, I went to DU. And I saw the "news" in LBN about the first plane.

Then I went to the TV and watched in horror as the events unfolded.

I called everyone. But got no answer.

Then I called my Mom and got an answer. She has Meniere's Syndrome and has had a real bad time with it (still does, 5 years +). She doesn't watch a lot of news because she gets bouts of extreme anxiety because of Meniere's but had seen the first part of it.

I watched it on TV and was telling her about it in "real time" as it happened, and she said she didn't want to turn the TV back on.

I had only just gotten in touch with Mom and was filling her in with the details while I was watching on the TV and then the first tower fell! I was exclaiming and practically crying while describing it to her!!! We were both saying prayers and hoping that everyone had gotten out already.

That's my most memorable moment about the whole event: telling my Mom on the phone what I was seeing on TV as the first tower fell.

We were both SO sure everyone had been evacuated.

I remember exactly seeing the first tower fall and telling my Mom that it looked like one of those "demolition" things, because it fell so straight.

We were both SO sure everyone had been evacuated. How could they have not been?

After that there was horror upon horror of realizations about what was going on. I don't remember exactly when me and my Mom ended our conversation.

Though I remember being glued to the TV, and switching from one channel to the other constantly, I don't remember very clearly when the second tower fell. Just a kind of shock.

The enormity of the event grew during the day. We all know what that was like.

...but, I was SO sure everyone had been evacuated....

It was probably nearly a year after that I was brave enough to download images of the people jumping out of the buildings. Those have stuck with me more than anything, even though the seeing of those was after the fact.

I found out later that my brother's former highschoool classmate was on one of those planes. He had graduated from Grissom High School here in Huntsville, Alabama many years before. A really good guy with lots going on.

Lots of people know someone or are close to someone that was murdered that horrible day.

Democrat, Republican; let us all remember that horror and try to make sense of it.

And let us elect the leader that can steer us properly in the right direction.

Personally, I think that is Kerry/Edwards, but whomever, let us hope that we're headed in the right direction?????!!!!!!