The woman told her story with such clarity that she could have been speaking of something that was just experienced.
The details, the guts of any compelling story, had the ring of a yarn told and retold over the years. She spoke of her remembrances of September 10, 2001.
I was on my way home from work yesterday and had tuned in to NPR and caught their All Things Considered program: “The Day Before America Was Interrupted: Nine People Recall Sept. 10, 2001”
A man from Omaha, Nebraska was next. His story was just as detailed.
For those who lived through the horrors of September 11TH, the memories of that day are indelible. The chronology of 9/11 – where we were, who we were with, and what we felt at each point of that dreadful day are vividly replayed in our minds, especially when the sad anniversary nears.
Buy what about the day before?
As I listened, I strained to recall my “day before”. I could think of nothing. I realized that I had absolutely no memory of September 10TH. It’s funny how the mind works. It’s as if the immense sorrow of 9/11 has commandeered the available space of my brain for that period of time.
This is a three year old video that was recorded on a cheap webcam, so the image is grainy. Seven years after the attacks, I spoke of what I remembered about that day. I made no references to September 10TH.
Ten years later, what do you remember about the day before?
Author Bio:
Ray Colon has written 136 posts on Ray's Blog.
He works with numbers for a living, but don't judge - boring accountants need love too. His blog has no niche (unless writing about things that are important to him is a niche). Some folks cringe when he gets “all political” on them, but he does it anyway when he's in that kind of mood. Sometimes, he writes something nice about someone, but you shouldn't get used to that. His first book, the one he hasn't written yet, is not available on Amazon. Subscribe to Ray's Blog via RSS or Email.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Every time I look at a caricature drawing on my wall of my husband and me sitting on top of Seattle’s Space Needle I think of September 10th. When I look at the date the artist put on the drawing I wish he would have included more than the month and year.
On September 10th, 2001 I was visiting family in the Seattle area. Heath took me to Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. We wandered around after watching the fish tossing but there wasn’t much to do there. We stopped to get our picture drawn.
The man captured Heath’s face perfectly, down to his freckles which showed his fair complexion in a black and white drawing. I had glasses on that day. Must have been too tired to put in contacts. The artist included our dimples even though Heath was giving his public smile. Heath was drawn beefy and shirtless. I was drawn with a slinky dress and no shoes. How did this artist know I don’t normally wear shoes?
He asked what our favorite drink was. I was thinking Diet Coke but Heath was a little quicker to realize the true meaning. He told the artist we don’t drink. The artist took a second to figure out how to fix the drawing. We are both holding ice cream cones. Heath’s looks like the Olympic torch. But maybe we thought that knowing the Olympics were coming to our city in a few months.
We went back to Heath’s parents house. I don’t remember what we ate but I remember we had to be home for dinner because his parents had the missionaries over that night. We talked about their missions and they asked us how long we had been married. Only 7 months.
Most of my memories are associated with what I was wearing at the time. I had on my favorite long sleeved white t-shirt and black jeans. My hair was in a ponytail and I had my glasses on like I said.
The next morning we woke up to Heath’s mom listening to the news really loud. I was slightly annoyed at first until I started paying attention to what was being said. We watched with her for a minute before she left for work. She hugged us and told us to be safe driving home that day. We took much longer than usual to finish packing up to leave for our 14 hour drive back to Salt Lake City. That was a strange day. But I remember the day before well. We had no idea everything would change so much the next day.
Hi Tristan,
You remember so much of the day before, like those people in that radio broadcast. It’s a nice memory to have. Have you ever included that drawing in one of your posts? I’d love to take a look at it. I’ve never had one done of myself.
Your memory of the TV news being played very loudly the next morning is one that most of us can relate to. Days upon days of watching nothing else, interrupted only by the many many phone calls to check on everyone that we knew.
You and Heath watched fish tossing? You’ve got me there. I don’t think that I’ve ever seen that particular spectator sport.
Ray
Hi Ray!
As per usual, I enjoyed your article, and incredibly heartfelt video. I do have to disagree with you on one thing though. Things have changed my friend, for the worse! I think of things like the Military Commissions Act, Patriot Acts 1&2, the outrageous treatment of law abiding citizens at our airports by the TSA. I also think about how politicians and talking heads have used the tragedy of 911 for political gain. How the term “terrorism” has become the watch word of a modern day witch hunt much like the red scare of the 1950s.
“Your a terrorist if I say your a terrorist!”
Yes, things are different Ray. Ten years of war in the name of “fighting terrorism,” but those bastards in Washington aren’t fighting terrorism. They are expanding their power base, they are invading and subjugating sovereign nations for filthy lucre, and, little by little, they are turning this land into a police state. What are we doing? We are begging for it. That’s right, BEGGING FOR IT! “Oh yes please take my liberty… tell me what to do, but just don’t let the evil brown Muslim people get me! My God, but I’m SICK OF IT! Bigotry, tyranny, hyper patriotism, and counterfeit religiosity. We dance like puppets on the end of the master’s strings!
Yes Ray, things are different, and it does not make you less of an American to say so. It does not mean you hate your country, or you don’t care about those who were MURDERED on 911 if you say so. It only means that you are AWAKE.
Wake up America. For the love of God wake up!
Hi Terry,
I’m on board with what you are saying here, although the change that I alluded to in that video had more to do with the purported change in the perspective of Americans after 9/11. There was a coming together of people, as we were bonded by what we all witnessed. This was exemplified by the responders – the first as well as all those who came afterwards. Despite early claims to the contrary, they knew – we all knew – that they were doing dangerous work in a hostile environment. They breathed in the toxins as they labored against hope to find survivors.
People began to behave differently with one another – better, nicer. We had a chance to harness that goodwill in the face of a tragedy, but regrettably we did not. Instead, most of us reverted back to our old selves as others sought to gain advantage of the situation. That’s when the things that you wrote of sadly began to happen.
That’s why I think that things did not change. People stopped giving their neighbor the benefit of the doubt, we went to war on a false pretense, and Congress held up aide to those responders whose health suffered as a result of their heroic efforts. There are so many other wrongs that could be added to that list.
There’s much passion in what you write, Terry, and I share your anger at what has transpired over the last ten years. A different approach to our country’s response to the tragedy of that terrible day could have yielded a much better tomorrow than we currently have today.
Ray
I remember going in to work that morning completely unaware of what had happened. What a dreadful shock to walk into the Call Centre and find all the TV sets tuned to the all-day news coverage.
We then discovered that some of our workmates had actually been there in the Towers. They had saved up for a couple of years to take this much longed for holiday to the States – and now they were gone, eventually listed among the dead.
Now I didn’t know the girls beyond having seen them in passing during the work day. But still the knowledge of their loss made the horrors of that day even more real. Just hearing the other girls talking about how excited they had been about their trip…!
How hard it was for all of us that day to have customers calling to make such a song and dance about the size of their latest electricity bill when we were sitting there watching our American brothers and sisters dealing with such a terrible tragedy.
Hi Lyn,
With the time difference, I suspect that you slept through our horrible morning here, only to awake to the dreadful aftermath.
I’m sorry to learn of your workmates. It’s so sad that they would plan and look forward to a trip that ended up placing them in harms way.
Yes, it was difficult to focus on our normal daily tasks while the events of that day and the days that followed were being broadcast. Those whose work was in response to the tragedy had to have had a hard time keeping their minds on their tasks while worrying about their own loved ones. For many of the rest of us, including me, concentrating on my job was next to impossible for several days. We watched and watched the news continually and absorbed all of the sorrow.
Ray
On that morning, one of my staff ran into the dept., saying that she saw a plane hit a skyscraper in NYC. She saw the video tv elevator news ..on the elevator. We were working on the 29th fl. in Toronto.
Over the next few hrs., we heard bits of news. Another staff member phoned NYC, one of our many branch U.S. offices. I was working for an global accounting firm.
One of my employees, an Orthodox Jew burst out it that it could be the Palestinians. As the manager for the dept., I requested she refrain from making such remarks. It was not appropriate in our workplace at all.
We lost 3 employees, 2 in the World Trade Centre and 1 on the plane that went into the Pentagon. The U.S. division set up an internal database overnight (if you can believe this), for employees to express whatever…alot of it was religious or political. I’m not kiddin’.
We were evacuated from our office building early afternoon…..because people wondered if Toronto would be a target. This was in the financial district. The subway stations were jammed….
Hi Jean,
Thanks for sharing your experiences of that day. There was so much confusion, for everyone, that it’s not surprising that the speculation was all over the place. It’s unfortunate that some people do not filter their thoughts and instead choose to blurt out whatever enters their minds.
It’s unusual and sad that your company had victims in the Towers and one at the Pentagon. I think that the internal communication idea was a good one, at least as a way to disseminate information, but I guess we have to accept the good with the bad once a forum is established.
Ray
By the way, I giggled at your blog’s byline. It’s great!
Giggling is good, Jean.
Thanks for that! I like the tag line, but it’s only been mentioned a couple of time by visitors.
Ray