Ground Zero Archives - Tena Stetler

Sep 11th Where were you on September 11, 2001?

An explosion rips through the South Tower of the World Trade Towers after the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into it Sept, 11, 2001. The North Tower is shown burning after American Airlines Flight 11 crashed into the tower at 8:45 a.m. -Robert Clark / Associated Press

September 11, 2001, is burned in my memory for all time. I was no where closed to ground zero in New York. In fact I was 1, 775 miles away in Colorado. But the sights and sounds broadcast on the television and computer of the planes crashing into the twin towers, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field, were still life changing. Launching America into a new consciousness, the threat of global terrorism was front and center.

I had just started a new job, I was getting ready for work when I stopped to check my email before shutting the computer down at approximately 8:00 a.m. , MDT. A friend’s email popped up with urgent on it then an IM. The message said “Turn on your television before you head to work. It’s awful, we’ve been attacked.”

A damaged tower collapses -(Det. Greg Semendinger / NYPD)

I tagged him back “What? I gotta go.” But upon his insistence, I headed down stairs flipped on the television. To my horror I saw the video of the fiery blasts that rocked the World Trade Center after being hit by two planes. I’m not sure how long I stood there watching the events as they unfolded that morning. That particular scene was burned into my memory. For the first time in history, the FAA grounded all flights over or bound for United States air space. It was an eerie sound… or no sound at all I guess. Where I live, air traffic from local airports and the numerous air force bases are an everyday occurrence. But the dead silence was unnerving.

Anyway, I finally tore myself from the television, got in my SUV and drove to work. There I found my boss and a few co-workers glued to the computer screens and MSNBC where World Trade Center’s North Tower collapse 102 minutes after being struck by Flight 11 was being aired. Continuous news coverage and updates at ground zero. Not much work got done that morning in our office. I think we were all in a state of shock. How could this happen? Within a couple of hours, the business owner called and told us all to go home.

Firefighters raise a flag late in the afternoon of Sept. 11, 2001, in the wreckage -(Thomas E. Franklin / Associated Press)

Coverage continued all day and at 8:30 p.m., President Bush addressed the nation, calling the attacks “evil, despicable acts of terror” and declaring that America, it’s friends and allies would “stand together to win the war against terrorism.”

From that day forward, there was a new normal. It couldn’t happen to the United States, but it had. We’d been attacked on our on soil… so many American lives lost on that one day, through the actions of a few. A day millions will never forget.

So…where were you the morning of September 11, 2001?