Image from Sacred Monkeys
I was a college student in the middle of Missouri. I had just come back from eating breakfast at the dining hall, and I had some time to kill before I needed to go to class, so I turned the TV on. The first thing that came on the TV were live images of both World Trade Center Towers on fire. Kate Couric was on TV explaining that not just one, but two planes flew into the towers in New York City. My roommate, who was also at the dining hall, walked in a few minutes later and asked "what the hell is going on in New York? All of the cafeteria staff are gathered around the TV." I told him what I knew so far. News reports started coming out that a plane had hit the Pentagon. At this point, it was more than clear that the United States was under attack.
As I was getting ready for class, the South Tower collapsed. At this point, I figured my professor would cancel class so everyone could go back to their dorms and watch what was going on. I decided to go to the classroom and at least find out what my next assignment would be, thinking that is all that would happen. But when he came into the classroom, made a comment about how crazy the events are, and proceeded with his lesson.
I couldn't believe he wanted to continue class. I remember thinking that our nation was in the middle of being under attacked, planes were being hijacked all around the country and flown into landmarks, and this guy wanted to do was continue his statistical probability lecture. Needless to say, my mind was not on statistical probability. On September 10, 2001, if you had told me such attacks would take place, I would have called you crazy. I though these things could only happened in movies. I started asking myself various questions. "How many more hijacked planes would be crashed?" "Are we going to be hit with a chemical or nuclear weapon?"
I got back to my dorm room, where my roommate informed me the North Tower had collapsed, and that a fourth plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. For the next several hours, I watched as the news and images continued to be broadcast from New York and Washington, D.C. Like everyone else in American, and around the world that day, I was shocked by the unfolding events. My roommate and others in our dorm were wondering who did it, and what would happen now. The government and terrorism experts were pretty sure Osama Bin Laden were behind these attacks, but no one knew for sure yet. If it wasn't this Bin Laden guy, then who would have done such a thing? Was it spies from another country? Was it right-wing extremists like the Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City? Were we going to invade another country? Would there be a draft? Who the hell were we going to have to kill because of this?
Everyone on campus (like the rest of America) was scared. We didn't know if there would be more attacks after this or not. Lots of students went to the college chapel for an impromptu memorial service. I was still a Christian then, but even some nonbelievers attended so they could be with others in this time of tragedy. The president of the college, a former military man, gave a speech on overcoming fear. It became a cliche later, but emphasized the need to stay strong and not to hastily look for retribution, or the terrorists would win. I remember finding that very comforting, and tried to take his words to heart in the days and weeks to come. I wish more people in our country could have done the same.
My roommate and I were glued to the news on TV for the next couple of days. We barely left the dorm except to go to class and eat. I did not let fear overcome me as it did so many others, but I do remember feeling an immense amount of grief. I would especially choke up whenever I saw the images of people walking around New York with pictures of their missing loved ones, asking to be contact if someone saw them. I knew, and I think most other people knew that they would probably never see their loved ones again. And no one knew what the number of casualties would end up being? No one would know for another year, that it would be a little bit over 3,000 lives lost. But at the time, people were speculating as high as tens of thousands of dead.
Part 2 , which will emphasize the aftermath of 9/11, will come either tonight or tomorrow. In the meantime, here is a video I found on Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish. It is a video that features John Vigiano Sr. who lost both of his sons in the 9/11 attacks. One was a firefighter, one was a police officer.
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