Twin Towers Archives - Tena Stetler

Sep 11th Where Were You on September 11, 2001

NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: (FILE PHOTO) A fiery blasts rocks the south tower of the World Trade Center as the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashes into the building September 11, 2001 in New York City. Almost two years after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, the New York Port Authority is releasing transcripts on August 28, 2003 of emergency calls made from inside the twin towers. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

That’s a day that 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 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.”

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 I guess. Where I live air traffic from local airports and the numerous air force bases jets 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. I think we were all shell shocked. How could this happen? Within a couple of hours, the business owner called and told us all to go home.

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 American, 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 9/11/2001?

Posted in My Say What Blog and tagged 2001, New York, New York City, September 11, Twin Towers by Tena Stetler with 6 comments.

Sep 11th September 11, 2001, A Day that Everything Changed

NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 11, 2001: . (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Twenty years ago, a fiery blasts rocked the south tower of the World Trade Center as the hijacked United Airlines Flight 175 from Boston crashed into the building September 11, 2001 in New York City. Today, one day away from the anniversary of that horrible day I sat at my computer and debated whether or not to write about it. Funny how a great many things fade from memory as the years go by. However, this event is etched in my memory as clearly today, as it was twenty years ago. I hope you don’t mind my sharing with you my thoughts and feelings on that horrible day.

I was sitting at my computer at home paying a few bills before I headed off to work at a new job and career. I’d left my paralegal job and began a new less stressful job at an electronic contracting firm. A friend’s husband, Nigel, called me and asked what was I doing. I told him. There was silence on the other end. I quickly asked if something had happened to Patti, he said um no, but I better turn on the TV before I left for work. I said okay and we hung up. Yes, it was a strange conversation.

Rather than turn on the TV, I searched the computer for the days events. I was dumbfounded when I saw the images flashing across the screen! My first thought was this wasn’t possible, not on the United States soil. This cant be happening. I closed my eyes then opened them again hoping….I don’t know what. But it was real. Then I continued to search the internet and finally turned on the TV. Reality began to sink in. Not only had we been attacked, panic rose up inside me, then turned to fear and finally anger. How could they. How could we let them. (I know irrational thought.) Next desire for retaliation. My heart was pounding out of my chest and as I write this the feeling washes over me again. So many lives lost over the last twenty years beginning with this horrific event. Yet, what have we learned? Not going there, here. Anyway, I headed off to work. We watched the events unfold on computers the first half of the day, then the boss sent us home, with pay. That’s one first day on the job I will never forget.

My thoughts, prayers, and thanks go out to the first responders at the scene on that fateful day and their families. Nothing had prepared them or us for this. Yet, they had a job to do and did it heroically. God bless them all. When I sat down here, I didn’t know what I was going to write, but the words tumbled out and somehow this has been therapeutic for me as I end my thoughts. For some reason this year the memories hit me the hardest. I can only hope that September 11th passes with profound remembrances and that’s all. NO violence. If you care to share your thoughts in the comments about where you were, how you felt, or your memories. I would be honored. God Bless America!