Realizing Stories Connect Us: Where Were You on September 11, 2001?
@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
