Remembering 9/11 For Those That Can't

It occurred to me after attending the Rocky Mount Patriot Day event yesterday that my children were barely in existence on September 11th, 2001. As I stood in the living room with my cup of coffee, bleary eyes not fully awake, my mind could not quite take in the scene playing out on the television screen. Witnessing news people in a panic is not pleasant. Watching the anchors live scrambling to figure out the mayhem that they were seeing out their broadcast station window as the first plane crashed into the tower was agony see. Then my brain woke up, and running out into the yard, fully expecting to see planes overhead invading the Midwest, my neighbor stopped in her car, to find out what happened. We both panicked and intended to go to the school and get our small children to hug tight. We literally thought it was the end for us. We expected a nuclear blast any minute. Luckily things did not play out that way. But at that moment, we didn’t know any better. We had not experienced anything like this in our lifetime. Pearl Harbor had been the last direct attack on America. My parents were born that year.

After watching some more news, the attack was still unsettling, and we still didn’t really know what was going to happen from there two hours later. About noon, I went to my church and prayed with my pastor and his wife. The rest of the day hung in limbo and the days that followed told of the specifics of the New York City attack, and all of the stories that came out of it.

I have not visited the 9/11 ground zero memorial. My father and daughter have. After speaking with them about it, I know it is one of those places that you can’t get the gist of unless you have been there. But a friend of mine helped in the rescue efforts following Sept. 11th. I would point everyone to her book which is available on Amazon.com. Linda Christner formerly from Olean, and now living in Texas. Her book is titled September 11, 2001: The Day Our World Stopped Turning! The book is her first-hand account of the aftermath of the attacks and her efforts as a “blue shirt” National Crisis team volunteer.

However you remember or memorialize Patriot Day, just don’t take it for granted. It is an event that will haunt me forever.