WTC -- 6 Months Later
Posted: Mon Mar 11, 2002 9:12 am
Good Morning All. I can see that all the news channels are going to talk about 9/11 all day. I'm cynical about the media and feel that the event has been too neatly packaged for consumer consumption. (Maybe because my dad was an ad man--I am too aware of advertising techniques.) I am sure I will hear more bad patriotic music, as well.
However, despite my own cynicism, I did feel tearful this morning. I thought I would relate 9/11 as it happened to me.
8:00ish: My husband and I get up to go to Manhattan for our daughter-in-law's sonogram. She is 6 months pregnant. This is one of the few nights that I don't fall asleep with the TV on.
8:45ish: My mother calls and says we should not to into the city because the WTC is on fire. We finally turn on the TV. When we see the fires in both towers, we grab our binoculars (we keep them handy being backyard astronomers) and run outside.
9:00ish: We have walked 2 blocks away to the clearest view of the towers. (I am in Jersey City and the Palisades run through here. We live at the top of a big hill/cliff and have always had an unobstructed view of the WTC.) A whole bunch of people are already gathered out there. A telephone company truck is parked on the side with the radio blasting so we can all hear the news. We hear breaking news that the Pentagon has been hit, and are starting to wonder just what is really going on. It's a gorgeous warm day with clear blue skies. We are watching the towers burn. My husband sees someone jump from the south tower. Finally the moment comes--I am looking at the South Tower through my binoculars and a lot of debris or something is hurtliing out of the levels that are on fire. All of the sudden those levels collapse and the whole thing starts to go down. I am yelling NO NO NO. My husband and I are both shaking. I remember talking to a woman next to me who was standing there with her toddler. I don't remember what we said.
I go across the street for a better view of the North Tower. I am praying at this point for it to remain standing. The levels that are on fire are a bright orange-red--like molten steel. I see someone jump from the North Tower. After a while, I start to see large chunks of debris shooting out the north side of the North Tower--explosions, and I'm really praying now that it doesn't collapse. Then it goes down.
I don't remember much then. I do remember that my husband and I decided to walk home, and cried all the way. For the next week, it brings tears again every time we go outside and see all the smoke. We can smell the smoke over here like burning plastic.
Afterwards, we watched a lot of it on TV like everyone else. I was really moved by the sympathy of people from other countries. I also felt really alienated from my own people for not feeling the hatred or anger it seemed I was supposed to feel.
Tonight we will go onto the roof of the building across the street to watch the lighting of those two lights. I don't know what to think about that. I do know that I am still heartbroken every time I look at the skyline and see the hole in it. It is now impossible for me to differentiate the Jersey City skyline from the Manhattan skyline.
However, despite my own cynicism, I did feel tearful this morning. I thought I would relate 9/11 as it happened to me.
8:00ish: My husband and I get up to go to Manhattan for our daughter-in-law's sonogram. She is 6 months pregnant. This is one of the few nights that I don't fall asleep with the TV on.
8:45ish: My mother calls and says we should not to into the city because the WTC is on fire. We finally turn on the TV. When we see the fires in both towers, we grab our binoculars (we keep them handy being backyard astronomers) and run outside.
9:00ish: We have walked 2 blocks away to the clearest view of the towers. (I am in Jersey City and the Palisades run through here. We live at the top of a big hill/cliff and have always had an unobstructed view of the WTC.) A whole bunch of people are already gathered out there. A telephone company truck is parked on the side with the radio blasting so we can all hear the news. We hear breaking news that the Pentagon has been hit, and are starting to wonder just what is really going on. It's a gorgeous warm day with clear blue skies. We are watching the towers burn. My husband sees someone jump from the south tower. Finally the moment comes--I am looking at the South Tower through my binoculars and a lot of debris or something is hurtliing out of the levels that are on fire. All of the sudden those levels collapse and the whole thing starts to go down. I am yelling NO NO NO. My husband and I are both shaking. I remember talking to a woman next to me who was standing there with her toddler. I don't remember what we said.
I go across the street for a better view of the North Tower. I am praying at this point for it to remain standing. The levels that are on fire are a bright orange-red--like molten steel. I see someone jump from the North Tower. After a while, I start to see large chunks of debris shooting out the north side of the North Tower--explosions, and I'm really praying now that it doesn't collapse. Then it goes down.
I don't remember much then. I do remember that my husband and I decided to walk home, and cried all the way. For the next week, it brings tears again every time we go outside and see all the smoke. We can smell the smoke over here like burning plastic.
Afterwards, we watched a lot of it on TV like everyone else. I was really moved by the sympathy of people from other countries. I also felt really alienated from my own people for not feeling the hatred or anger it seemed I was supposed to feel.
Tonight we will go onto the roof of the building across the street to watch the lighting of those two lights. I don't know what to think about that. I do know that I am still heartbroken every time I look at the skyline and see the hole in it. It is now impossible for me to differentiate the Jersey City skyline from the Manhattan skyline.
