11 September 2006
Caveat: 9/11 content
This is a letter I had written on 25 Sep 01 to my brother residing in Warsaw. I don't remember if I ever sent it. If I didn't, you get to read it now, Tom.
In the morning, I usually have the morning news on in the background. On Tuesday, I had sat down to watch an interview, about what I can’t remember now. In the middle of the interview, the special report screen came on and Bryant Gumbel said that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers. They had cameras on top of buildings zooming in to try to see what happened. He was talking on the phone with some “eyewitness” callers to try to find out what happened. I could see the gaping holes in the Tower and thought about all the people in their offices who must have been killed or injured. At that point I thought it must have been a private plane. Paul was en route to the office, but I called his voice mail to leave a message about the crash. I kind of went on with things, helping William with a stuck toy. As I was doing that, the voice of one of the callers, who could see the towers, became more urgent. As I looked up, I saw an explosion in the other tower, and the caller said that another plane had flown into it. I just felt as if I didn’t know what was happening. I called Paul’s voice mail again to report the other crash. I said something like, “Another plane just flew into the other tower. This is scary.” A few moments later, he called from his cell phone to ask if I had heard about the crashes. The camera footage that they had about the second crash was from some distance and the second plane looked rather small. I even wondered if the second plane had been some “gawker” trying to see the damage on the first tower. They were saying that there were reports that a plane had been hijacked. Then they had better footage of the second crash and I was just horrified to see the large jet crashing into the building. Soon they had footage of the Pentagon on fire—they thought it might have been a bomb. A plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. Reports that the planes were hijacked and full of passengers. I feel as if I went into a state of shock. The towers collapsed as I was driving to work. It wasn’t until I saw the footage of the collapses that my heart really became heavy with the thought of all those who couldn’t make it out of the buildings. As I drove past the airport, you could see at least a dozen planes lined up to land. After everything was all done, there was such a feeling of sadness. Over the next four days they had nothing on TV but images of the plane crashing into the building and then their subsequent collapse. I read one columnist who described it as “mind-numbing wallpaper.” However, in some ways I felt the need to immerse myself in it.
These events are still such a part of our daily culture and I imagine they will be for some time. Last night Katherine asked why the bad people crashed the plane into the good people. I even wonder about these images being imbedded somewhere in William’s brain, not for him to remember, but just to always be there. I know you are saddened by what has happened, but you may not know how much it has affected everyone over here. Jerry and Linda were in Norway and Sweden when this happened and came back a week and a half later. Jerry told Paul that they didn’t realize how depressed everyone here was over these events. It is something that I think about several times a day, even when not triggered by the reminders everywhere—news reports, flags, etc. Our country must bear this or the ultimate goal of this attack will have been realized.
In the morning, I usually have the morning news on in the background. On Tuesday, I had sat down to watch an interview, about what I can’t remember now. In the middle of the interview, the special report screen came on and Bryant Gumbel said that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Center towers. They had cameras on top of buildings zooming in to try to see what happened. He was talking on the phone with some “eyewitness” callers to try to find out what happened. I could see the gaping holes in the Tower and thought about all the people in their offices who must have been killed or injured. At that point I thought it must have been a private plane. Paul was en route to the office, but I called his voice mail to leave a message about the crash. I kind of went on with things, helping William with a stuck toy. As I was doing that, the voice of one of the callers, who could see the towers, became more urgent. As I looked up, I saw an explosion in the other tower, and the caller said that another plane had flown into it. I just felt as if I didn’t know what was happening. I called Paul’s voice mail again to report the other crash. I said something like, “Another plane just flew into the other tower. This is scary.” A few moments later, he called from his cell phone to ask if I had heard about the crashes. The camera footage that they had about the second crash was from some distance and the second plane looked rather small. I even wondered if the second plane had been some “gawker” trying to see the damage on the first tower. They were saying that there were reports that a plane had been hijacked. Then they had better footage of the second crash and I was just horrified to see the large jet crashing into the building. Soon they had footage of the Pentagon on fire—they thought it might have been a bomb. A plane had crashed in Pennsylvania. Reports that the planes were hijacked and full of passengers. I feel as if I went into a state of shock. The towers collapsed as I was driving to work. It wasn’t until I saw the footage of the collapses that my heart really became heavy with the thought of all those who couldn’t make it out of the buildings. As I drove past the airport, you could see at least a dozen planes lined up to land. After everything was all done, there was such a feeling of sadness. Over the next four days they had nothing on TV but images of the plane crashing into the building and then their subsequent collapse. I read one columnist who described it as “mind-numbing wallpaper.” However, in some ways I felt the need to immerse myself in it.
These events are still such a part of our daily culture and I imagine they will be for some time. Last night Katherine asked why the bad people crashed the plane into the good people. I even wonder about these images being imbedded somewhere in William’s brain, not for him to remember, but just to always be there. I know you are saddened by what has happened, but you may not know how much it has affected everyone over here. Jerry and Linda were in Norway and Sweden when this happened and came back a week and a half later. Jerry told Paul that they didn’t realize how depressed everyone here was over these events. It is something that I think about several times a day, even when not triggered by the reminders everywhere—news reports, flags, etc. Our country must bear this or the ultimate goal of this attack will have been realized.
