What do you remember about 9/11?
In just three days our country will remember the unforgettable tragedy of 9/11. It is forever burned into our minds. What do you remember about that day?
- I remember standing in a crowded church office at our Ministry Center on Wisteria Drive, watching a little blurry TV image of the towers coming down.
- I remember the fear that was heavy in the air.
- I remember struggling to understand our world in the days that followed.
- I remember wondering what kind of world my little girls would grow up in.
- I remember standing on the corner of our neighborhood with strangers-who-suddenly-became-friends holding candles and cheering as cars drove by with flags flying.
- I remember gathering to pray for our nation, our leaders, and the families of those who lost their lives on that day.
- I remember LOTS of people coming to church the next Sunday, searching for hope.
I’d appreciate knowing what you remember most. It will help me prepare for this Sunday’s message. Please share your memories in the reply/comment box below.
Never forget…HOPE!
-Pastor Mark
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Posted on September 8, 2011, in Feedback and tagged 9/11, fear, hope, remember. Bookmark the permalink. 15 Comments.
Living in faith, hope and Love 
I remember standing in my office in a hospital in DC as a coworker got of the phone with her husband and said that a plane had hit the first tower and thinking “how could a commercial airliner make that type of mistake?” then only a few minutes later hearing of the second and knowing someone was doing this on purpose and thinking “how could someone do something as evil as this?” and wondering if this might be “it”– the end of the world as we knew it. It wasn’t of course in the biblical sense, but in so many other ways it was.
I remember being in a hotel in Cleveland getting ready to go to my oldest brother’s funeral. He died on the previous Saturday 9/8/01. I was having breakfast when the second tower was hit and watched the plane expload. ‘They’ve messed with the wrong country’ I said, not knowing the consequences of what was taking place. I went up stairs to get ready and that’s when the towers fell. I was awestruck. Later in the day at the church, I tried contacting Debbie who was at work in MD but was unable to. My closer in age brother Dave let me use his cell phone which I was finally able to get through. DC was closed and with news of two other planes going down, one at the Pentagon and the other in the country in PA, it was almost a reality that I would be spending another extra day trying to get back to Maryland. I was in a quandary so I took the chance and travelled home making sure Debbie and Matthew were alright. Little did I know that this would change the US forever. BTW I also found out that one of my friends in my care group at the time was working at the Pentagon in the center portion working on maintainance when the plane hit the outside outer ring of the building. He didn’t know what was going on but soon was evacuated and notified his family he was ok. My question is will we ever be ok again?
I was at work and only one person had a tiny TV at her desk that she watched her soap operas on during lunch. We were all huddled around watching. Mike and I kept calling back and forth to one another on the phone. He could see the smoke from the Pentagon crash from his 11th story window in Bethesda and he called me and said “We’re under attack. We need to get out of here.” I didn’t understand how we could be “under attack.” This is America! He came and picked me up and we drove home listening in silence to WTOP the whole way. I was pregnant with our first child and wondered what life would be like for this precious baby. We watched TV all day, grieving for those who had died, as our family from all over called to make sure we were okay. There was such a sense of community all over the country.
I remember the confusion as the reports came in, piecing the events together, and eventually trying to wrap my head around what was really happening. I remember the horror of standing in front of a TV at my office and watching the first of the twin towers collapsing – thinking about the people that were still in there. I remember people at the office trying to get some work done, but it almost seemed wrong to try to carry on with normal activities. I remember wanting to be home with my family around me, so I knew they were safe. When I did drive home, I was struck by how beautiful the weather was that day, how blue the sky was, how completely quiet the neighborhood was – all in contrast to what was happening not far away. After that day I remember all the horrifying and heartbreaking images from the news. I remember trying to protect my kindergartener son from all the news and talk – not wanting him to be afraid. And, like you said Mark, wondering what the world he will grow up in will be like. Finally, I was encouraged and hopeful when my large corporate employer held an optional prayer meeting at our offices and a large number attended.
I can’t remember exactly where I was on that day but I clearly remember the heartache I felt for those who had lost their lives. I remember sobbing and praying and the numbness that followed. I was so surprised something like this could happen in America. That day forever changed my life because it brought about a new level of awareness of evil. And when I travel, which I rarely do, I appreciate the heightened level of airport security despite its inconvenience. As a federal employee, I commute once a week to our White Oak campus, a centralized location that consolidates several FDA agencies which include over 10,000 federal employees…I have often wondered would this be their next target.
I remember that day. As with most people, I was at work, when I heard on the radio that a plane had hit the 1st tower in N.Y. I rushed to the only TV in the office at the time, turned it on and by that time another plane was headed towards the second tower. I was in shock. Tears began to roll down my face. The thoughts running through my head were – I couldn’t believe this was happening in our country. All of the people who were in those towers who weren’t going to make it out of there. Wondering what else these people could possibly do to us? Thousands of brave firefighters, police, military and civilians who were there trying to help in anyway they could. Some of which lost their lives for our country. What will happen to our country after this? I remember how the country pulled together to show their love of this country by flying the American Flag outside their homes and putting magnets or decals of the American Flag on their cars, me included. Basically saying to them “You haven’t beatten us and we will survive!.”
I was watching TV from my exercise bike when the station cut in showing the first tower in smoke and flames. The reporter thought it was a terrible airliner accident. But then the second airliner banked into view and and, as I remember, both the reporter and I watched with increasing horror as the event unfolded.
A day or so later there were websites with anthologies of photographs of masses of flowers brought by the citizens of other countries all over the world to offer sympathy to the citizens of the United States. They moved me to tears, and the memory still does.
And I still grieve for the opportunity lost upon a bellicose administration.
I was on the campus of Montgomery College at the time!! I was young and scared and not sure what was going on until the second plane crashed on purpose!! I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew DC would be one of the places that they hit next, and they did. My sister was in an inpatient rehabilitation center for drugs at the time, and I was heartbroken that we could not get through to her. My father was working in DC at the time and I was also very anxious to get through to him, and I finally did. I think that since 9/11 the world has changed very much here in the US. We were caught off guard and attacked on our own soil! There are many evil groups and people who are still out to attach the USA, and it is only by the grace of God that we have not been attacked since then. We must stay vigilant and continue to ask for God’s hand of protection on our great nation!
I remember being the Director of the Potomac Community Center and holding hands with ladies from the morning aerobics class in the lobby as we watched the horror of the day unfold on the lobby television set. One young mom started crying as she worried about her husband working downtown. For the first time in many years, the center was filled with fear and dread instead of smiles and carefree fun. I remember being fearful for the safety of my children attending classes at the local schools and couldn’t wait to hug them. And I remember going home that afternoon to fly the American Flag outside my home to show that we live in a great country who will not let terrorism put us down. Thank God that we ARE a Nation Under God!
I remember the unbelievable sights on TV as my daughter, Crystal, and I tried to comprehend what we were seeing. As we watched one tower, the other tower, the Pentagon, and the crash reports in PA; this stuff does NOT happen in America. My husband heard the plane that hit the Pentagon and saw the smoke from his office in D.C. He and a co-worker, Barbara Brewington (former Creeker), left and headed home in Germantown as his building was evacuated. In the meantime, relatives from Kansas called to check in on us.
As I watched the towers fall, I remember praying for all of the people in the area and their families, as well as Pentagon families, and those in the PA flight. I also thanked God for bringing my husband home from NYC the morning before, as he’d been there for work. A couple nights before he and out-of-state co-workers had toured the Twin Towers observatory. He found it incredible that he happened to have toured the tower again, because the out-of-towners had never been there before.
The other memory is trying to explain to my daycare children “why the planes ran into the buildings.” How could I explain when I had no idea. The first hit I thought was accidental; the 2nd time I knew it was intentional; how on earth could “we” be attacked like that?
On September 11th, I was deployed into New York City as part of the National Disaster Medical System, we arrived in the city in the late after noon and I remember it as being a very confused and frightening time. As we arrived in lower Manhattan, I remember praying to god to give me the strength to deal with the things that I would be seeing and the tasks that I would be called on to do.
Over the next three weeks at Ground Zero, I saw that an act based on the worst aspects of human nature could bring out the best in human nature. I witnessed incredible acts of bravery, kindness and love in the middle of absolute horror, my life was changed forever, in more ways than I can tell.
As a side note, although we hadn’t met yet, my future wife was in the World Trade Center at the time of the attacks; by the grace of god she was spared. We met a few years later and were married last December.
I remember being in my classroom…reading a book to my second graders…and being handed a note by a staff member stating that the twin towers had been struck…I sat there in shock and stared at the sweet faces of the seven year olds before me…I just couldnt believe it. Then slowly widespread panic set in..and kids were being dismissed as an emergency dismissal system was developed to handle this situation that never had to be handled before…people started thinking about God again.
One of my best friends was working at the Pentagon at the time…and I couldn’t get a hold of her..so I was worried about that. She was fine in the end but left the Pentagon after the attacks…
It was surreal and unbelievable in every way. I am just surprised now that nothing as serious has happened again. This weather has been crazy though…. 🙂
I was told by strangers I was playing a computer game with that the Towers in New York had just been hit. I thought they were joking, when one said to me, no it happened for real. I ran to the TV set and saw the second plane fly into the second tower, then moments later they both fell. I ran and grabbed my baby, who was 4 months, wondering what kind of world had I bought her into, and what was about to happen to us all now.
I was at work, and me and some of my co-workers were watching a small tv set. and we saw the twin towers come down. the fear was very present that whole day.
i remember that I heard about the first plane while i was in the car on my way to get my hair done. I thought “what a terrible accident.” I was at the hair salon getting my hair colored when the second plane hit, and then we heard about the pentagon. Dana Tuttle ( former creeker) was doing my hair, and we just washed the color out and left so we could go home.
I remmeber my daughter Maria was only 6, and after we watched the news a while, and they kept showing it again and again, she finally asked me a day or so later “why do they keep letting the planes run into all those buildings? why doesn’t someone stop them?”. I realized that my poor sweet girl thought that this was happening again and again everytime the news replayed it. We quickly clarified that!
I also remember that my (ex) husband was working downtown at the time, and his dad called him from his home in rural pennsylvania to tell him to get out of DC it was too dangerous, and that we should move up to frostburg or pennsylvania with them. Then flight 93 crashed only a few miles from his house.