@bethvogt
There are days that change a generation. That change the world forever. Days that are marked as “never to be forgotten.”
Today is one of those days.
On September 11, 2001 – 18 years ago – four U.S. commercial airplanes were hijacked in terrorist attacks on our country. A total of 2, 977 people were killed in New York City, Washington, DC, and outside of Shanksville, PA.
I’m certain each one of us remembers where we were, what we were doing, when we first heard the news of the attacks.
I was driving my two oldest daughters to high school in Colorado Springs, with my youngest daughter buckled in her car seat. My daughter Amy switched back and forth through the radio channels, searching for favorite songs. At one point, an announcer said something like, “We’ll update you on this breaking news situation as soon as possible.”
Amy switched stations again.
“Stop! What was that?” I motioned for her to go back to the station.
As we continued to school, very little information was available. Once home, I turned on the news—and watched in horror as the second plane struck the south tower of the World Trade Center.
It seemed as if the world was unraveling.
Within the hour, I returned to my daughters’ school, which was now on lockdown. Yellow-coated security staff – parents I knew well – greeted me, and I had to show them I.D. before they would release my children to me.
My son, who was a freshman in college in Denver, called me. “Are we at war?”
My reply? “I think we are.”
My husband, who was stationed at Cheyenne Air Force Base in Wyoming at the time, called to say wouldn’t be home any time soon.
No surprise.
Close friends called to say their overseas flight had been diverted to the Denver airport. They didn’t know this until they were on the ground and the pilot told the stunned passengers about the terrorist attacks.
When they asked if I could come pick them up, I said, “No one can get near the airport. But if you can get a taxi and get out of there, I’ll meet you somewhere between Denver and the Springs.”
With flights across the country grounded for days, they stayed with us for two weeks.
And all the time, we tried to figure out what had happened. How had it happened. And how … how … did our country recover from such horror?
I remember watching Lisa Beamer, the widow of Todd Beamer, one of the passengers on Flight 93 who attempted to regain control of the plane from the hijackers, as a TV crew filmed her boarding a plane flight weeks after her husband’s death.
By her actions, Lisa Beamer chose courage over fear.
That memory has stayed with me to this day.
Remembering is one thing.
Honoring the memory of those who died, of all those who lost loved ones, of the heroes – including the first responders – is another way we can choose to never forget. Pausing to share our stories. To recall their stories.
Their actions can inspire us to live without fear whenever we have opportunity.
Realizing Stories Connect Us: Where Were You on September 11, 2001?http://bit.ly/2UKOomB #NeverForget #heroes Click To Tweet 'September 11, 2001, revealed heroism in ordinary people who might have gone through their lives never called upon to demonstrate the extent of their courage.' http://bit.ly/2UKOomB #911 #neverforget #PatriotDay Click To Tweet
Comments 11
Where were you on that fell day,
when sky fell and angels screamed?
We could not just wish away
what could never have been dreamed.
Our lives are staked and harsh-defined
much more by evil than by grace,
and perhaps by God we’re thus refined,
hardened for what we must someday face.
One may long for another context,
but that hope’s a vain conceit
for we live in a place where dots connect
to form the evil which we must defeat.
In fighting back, there’ll be a toll,
but God disposes, and thus, let’s roll.
Have you heard Neil Young’s song, “Let’s Roll”? If not, I hope it’s OK that I add the Youtube link.
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Andrew: It’s amazing how one man’s words, “Let’s roll,” can be remembered 18 years later — although I know he was not the only one to fight the terrorists on Flight 93. So many 9/11 heroes.
And I realize an entire generation has grown up since that day.
That you for including the link to the song.
You wrote a good post on a horrendous day, Beth. I was in the basement of the large hospital where I worked. I got in the employee elevator to return to my 3rd floor office and heard staff discussing the first plane hit. I went to my work supervisor’s office to tell him. He had his radio on and as we talked, the second plane crashed. By then we knew it was no accident. It was wonderful how people prayed and churches filled. We DO need to remember.
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Dee: It’s an unforgettable day for the entire world — it changed America is so many ways, and changed individual’s lives, too.
https://youtu.be/p4yfivS8SWs
Awww, Beth. Your post brought tears to my eyes. I was getting ready for my first-ever time to be a Bible study leader. I turned on the television and saw the smoke from the first hit on the World Trade Center and watched the second plane hit. The horror that filled me as I watched the terror on peoples’ faces as they ran from the debris clouds. And talking with my husband to see if he was going to be re-called to flight status. We got calls from people that day asking, “What next?” It was truly an unforgettable day.
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Jeanne: I kept the TV on for hours, until my daughter, Amy, asked me to please turn it off. I kept hoping for some kind of good news … for something different to be reported. Ad yes, family and friends kept calling. I think everyone wanted to connect that day.
I watched it unfold on television, schools were sent home, my husband’s office was evacuated (state office building), and that night our neighbors had a candlelight prayer vigil.
I only had two of my three children at that time, youngest had not been born, and the older of the two was supposed to have half-day kindergarten. It was such a surreal day.
We’re an hour out of D.C. near Baltimore. Military base in our county, and so many more in the area. The quiet skies were eerie.
Every year since then, the fighter planes fly low across our home on September 11.
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Denise: You mention how quiet the skies were. I forgot about that. Yes. So eerie.
The ringing phone pulled me from sleep in my bedroom filled with beautiful September sunshine. I answered and heard my dad’s voice, “Go turn on the TV. The World Trade Center has been hit.” I’ll never forget the juxtaposition of that gorgeous day in my little world with the horror that unfolded as hopes and dreams and precious lives crumbled with those towers.
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Bernadette: So many lives turned upside down. Changed forever. I remember hospital staff waiting … waiting …
It was sad.