Remember...

Stardate 4538.8

September 11th, 2001

Four years ago, today, terror struck at the heart of New York. Many people lost their lives in the attacks on the Twin Towers, and the Pentagon. Today is a day to remember those events, and those people. Remember.

My recounting and thoughts were posted a while ago, but I share some of them again now.

"It was about 6:45 am on a sunny September morning. In fact, it was a tuesday and looking to be a great day. I had just started a new job the previous thursday, and finally I was out of the physical labor force and into something more technically challenging and much more personally rewarding. I had no idea that one of the most profound events of my lifetime was about to happen. With my first cup of black coffee, I turned the news on CTV Newsnet, as I always did in the morning, and I sat and watched a building burning. People shouting. Chaos. No-one knew what was happening. Then there were reports of "a plane" crashing into the first of the Twin Towers of the WTC. I thought to myself, "Holy smokes... some poor bastard flew a Cessna off course or something." As they continued to try and piece together the information, my son, then 8, woke up and sat with me. "Shhhh... Something bad has happened, "I said to him when he began to tell me about his dreams or school.

It was then that the second plane came in. Live. On tv. I know it pales in comparison to the people that were there, but no-one expected it. We sat together and watched a commercial jetliner full of people smash into a giant building, also full of people. My GOD! I couldn't believe it. The people on tv couldn't believe it. Nobody knew what was happening... It seemed somehow surreal, like a clip from a movie, or a video game. This sort of thing just didn't happen. The boy laughed somewhat timidly. I don't think he grasped what had just happened. Of course not... it was absolutely insane. I chastised him lightly, and said "It isn't funny, a lot of people were just killed." I still don't think he understood.

I had to get to work. My mind was suddenly a maelstrom of thoughts. When the normal pace of life is disturbed by something so insane and unrealistic as this, it can be very difficult to grapple with normal thoughts and reality. At least for me it was. I went into the bedroom and in what must have been a mishmosh of gibberish, told my girlfriend that someone flew planes into the WTC. I said that I thought the boy was okay and I had to go to work, but she should definately put the news on the television...

I had a 50km drive to work ahead of me. Far too much time to think inthe morning, especially when reality has been replaced with some sort of psychological horror. I kept looking up at the skies, half expecting to see 747s bearing down on Red Deer.

"Who did it?"

"Why?"

I looked at every face that morning. At the lights. On the highway. Did they know? Did they see it like me? Do they even care? I got to work and the place was a buzz. I phoned home right away, to make sure everyone was okay. Already, a television had been set up in the lab in the back. As news came in, there was a bigger and bigger crowd forming to watch. The 3rd attack on the Pentagon came. The 4th plane crashing in Penn... The buildings collapsing. People crying. It was terrible.

Somehow, we all made it through work that day. Maybe it was the endless speculation and discussion that helped us. Maybe the fact that we were all safe.

That night, I called my Dad. I was still wrestling with the events of the day, and fighting back the tears caused by so much tension was difficult all day, as it is now, trying to recollect that morning and the vision of what I saw happen on television. He had similar experiences. Once in a while something so mindnumbing and profound happens, that you never forget it. I can't even remember what he told me, but just talking about things really helped me out.

As the days went by, more information was coming in. The casualties and missing, the endless task of searching and helping. So many people gave so much those days, that they are truly heroes beyond compare."

The complete entry can be read here.

Remember.