oh my God

The boys had been dropped off at school. I wanted the weather report. Imagine my surprise when I turned on the radio to hear an announcer from the streets of New York saying, "Oh, God, no! A second plane! A second plane has crashed into the other tower! Oh, God... Oh my God... may God have mercy on us all!!!" The words he spoke were disturbing enough. Far more disturbing was the noise behind him. Screaming, wailing, howling - sirens and people alike - horns honking. On no other day in broadcasting history had I heard the desperate moans of so many people utter these three words: Oh my God!

I remember walking into work completely dazed. No one was working. We all sat there, going through the motions while listening to the radio and wondering when, where, if another plane would hit. I had already taken stock of my friends and family. Children? School. Mom & sisters? Stepmom & Dad? Safe. Fiance? In Germany. Boss? Grounded in Quebec. All safe.


On my MSN was a friend in Buffalo, NY. She was on her laptop, barricaded in her basement suite bathroom, crying, shaking, freaking out, sure the world was ending. On my email shocking realtime pictures trickled in from another acquaintance who worked in a tower about 10 blocks from ground zero. As I heard on the radio, "Oh my God! It's collapsing!" my email binged and there it was, crumbling, one frame at a time. And later that night, again and again the film clips were played, on every station. Whether it was intentionally to desensitize us or just sensationalism is debatable.

Later, film clips of foreigners cheering, dancing in their streets and burning the US flag, reveling in great celebration of the US being taken down a notch, happy to see someone had finally had the balls to take a strike against the American way of life and everything it entailed - its finance, its government, its people. Citizens who had no desire to be Americanized under the guise of foreign aid. People with a vendetta, a burr in their saddle, some equally ignorant desire to prove their indignance towards the US of A. People with as much disregard for American lives as the Americans gave them.


Six years later we are still feeling the repercussions. This was a predictable, preventable tragedy. Wars don't bring peace. Invading other people's countries and telling them how to live doesn't bring peace. Trade embargoes and terrorism don't bring peace. Greed and powerlust don't bring peace. Religion doesn't bring peace. Only understanding and tolerance bring peace. About the only salvation I foresee would be a whole shitload of forgiveness, from all sides, something I'm afraid to say I doubt I'll ever see in this lifetime.


Where were you this day 6 years ago?

Comments

I was at home, channel flipping while nursing my one month old son.

The show I had been looking for was off and only a frozen image of the smoking towers was on that channel.

I don't think I'll ever get that image out of my head.
~L said…
I watched the second tower fall live at a friends house, while we held her twin babies and rocked them. I could barely see the screen I was crying so much.
~L said…
PS, the image that burns in my mind are the jumpers from the top of the building, choosing how to die by burning or jumping is a choice I never want to have to make.
ticblog said…
I completely forgot about that. I think I might have blocked that part. I recall throwing up at one point over it though. The stupid thing is, I was engaged at the time to a man in the USAF. My sister was living stateside. I had and still have tonnes of friends down there, and not a one of them buys in to the hate mongering and war the Bush administration has rammed down the throats of the American people. Nice, normal everyday people who put their socks on the same as everyone else.

I just don't get it. I never have. I never want to. I hope I never develop the ability to hate so much that I would put my own selfish agenda (money, power, religion, you name it) ahead of human life.
alphonsedamoose said…
I was at home with my wife. It was my day off and we sat glued to the television all
day. Amazing how the Canadian and Us were able to clear the skies of so many planes so fast. It brought back a lot of memories of JFK and Dallas.
Carol Kerfoot said…
Home getting ready for work talking to my Dad on the phone and watching CNN in horror. That morning when it all started for some strange reason Bob turned on the TV in the bedroom and started watching CNN, not his usual thing to do early morning....
It all seemed so unreal and hard to even begin to understand. I felt really desensitized by media and couldnt get a grip on what was happening.
Babzy said…
I was on the bus going to work listening to the radio on my old battered walkman. If you've ever been on a bus full of commuters you'll know that it is usually very quiet. People are snoozing, reading the paper, or looking out the window.

When the breaking news came on I said out loud "Something just happened in New York." I kept listening and repeating it back to those around me on the bus. "Holy shit a plane just .... etc etc" as I was hearing it live on my walkman.

This event shocked me beyond belief and the only thing that came close to the same level of shock that day was this...

Not one person on the bus looked up, looked over, looked ahast, looked interested. They continued to shuffle their newspapers or look out the window squirming with embarrassment for the inappropriate woman who was talking out loud to the radio and crying.

That bus trip and everything that happened or didn't happen on that bus that day, forever changed my sense of safety and trust in strangers. Even typing this now has put me into high anxiety thinking about that horrible day.
larson-ritzands said…
i lived in reddeer and was working the late shift. i had to get updates from the customers coming in that evening. i wish we could say that we (society) learned something from this tragendy, but sadely i don't think we have. unless you count pouring out liquids (lip gloss~) at the airport.
ticblog said…
National security won't come from airport taxes to cover paranoid measures (lip gloss~) any sooner than from the apathy of which you spoke, Babzy.

Terrorists and ~some~ politicians are the same. Read:

Sociopath: a psychiatric condition characterized by an individual's common disregard for social rules, norms, and cultural codes, as well as impulsive behavior, and indifference to the rights and feelings of others.
Cathy said…
I was at home with my two little kids. I was probably feeding my daughter Claire and my sister April called me and said turn on the news, there were planes that hit two building in New York. I watched in horror. I too felt like the world was ending. We went out for a walk later on to get rid of the sights and sounds we saw on the the tv that day. They still haven't left me to this day.
Tanya said…
I was at work when I heard about it. A customer told me about it and I thought they were joking. I don't think the reality really set in until a few more people told me. I caught a snippet of it on the news later that night and honestly it was just sickening. Even now it's just surreal and painful to watch.
Tasha said…
i was in calgary, in my 1 bedroom apartment i shared with my room mate, getting ready to go to work at my nanny job... pregnant but did not yet know it... or maybe i had just found out. can't remember....

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