Where were you on 9/11?

[marathoner452]

So many others have written far more eloquent tributes than I would be able to manage, so in lieu of the political rant that I know this post would turn into if I let it, I'll put the question to you-where were you and what were you doing?

I went off to college not 3 weeks before 9/11.  That day I woke up and went to the college cafeteria for breakfast, then walked down to the post office with one of my friends from high school.  Then I went back to the library to catch up on calculus homework.  At 8:46 that morning I was probably staring out the library window looking out over the St. Mary's River at the crystal clear blue day, not the kind of day when planes fly into buildings and buildings fall down around us.  At 10 am I went upstairs in the library to watch a movie on the French Revolution for history class.  Halfway through the movie the professor turns it off, tells us what happened, and a girl whose dad worked in the Pentagon leaves but I don't think much else of it.  The movie finished, I went to lunch and contemplated how bagel cutters look a lot like guillotines.  I left lunch and walked past the information desk where someone was picking up a bicycle.  I saw a sign on the desk about how we could watch news coverage on the events in the campus cinema down the hall, so I decided to find out what was going on.  I sat down in the cinema and looked up and it hit me:  this is not a movie gone wrong.  This is real life.  This is happening right now.  We will, or should, never see the world in the same way again.

One year later I ran the Run to Remember 5k in Baltimore.  I've run it every year since.  

I also ran the Marine Corps Marathon in DC on October 27th, 2002, just over one year after.

Some people called us the "9/11 Generation," those of us who came of age around that time.  I think they're right.  For good or for bad, we were changed by that day.

So whenever my younger friends ask me what it's like to go off to college, I say I really don't know and hopefully they won't have a tragedy like that right after they start school.

So where were you?

~Bethany

Comments

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I was on duty at the Siena Heights University Security Center. A junior in college and in the midst of my third cross country season as a Saint, I had grown accustomed to just going about my daily grind until 3:30 and then going to practice, pushing my body to the limit, and then relaxing or going to class after.

My boss, who knew me as the guy who was always standing while on duty (sitting down is difficult for me, as you, and everybody else who knows me well, are aware), walked into the office without looking at me. She goes right to the back phone and calls in a guard to lower the flag to half-staff. Then she says, as she looks through some papers, "Adam, go into Residence Life and look at the TV. When you come back, tell me what you see."

So I walk down the hall to Res Life, greet the Housing Director and the Director of Res Life, go into the room with the TV, and watch in bewilderment, horror, and raw anger as the first tower falls. I walk back to the office, look at Cindy, and say, "The end of the world as we know it." And I was right. Nothing will ever be the way it was on September 10th, 2001, ever again. But we can try.

~Adam

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I don't know if we should try. The world is not the same anymore. To admit that does not let the terrorists win.

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

What I think I meant was that we can work towards peace and understanding. I know the world will never be the same, but there's no harm in trying to make it better than it is now.

~Adam

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I can agree with all that, but the way I took what you said was that to change the way we see the world is to admit defeat. Which it's not.

The world isn't black and white. That's too simplistic. And I know you know all that and I know this is an emotional day for everyone, but that's one thing that bothers me. That if we change the way we live our lives as a result of 9/11 then "they" win. Like there should be an "us" and a "them" in the first place.

I'm probably not making any sense right now. I should probably just shut up until we're done with the day of the 5 year anniversary.

~Bethany

[roadwarrior220.livejournal.com]

I agree that the world isn't black and white, and that the way I said what I said sounded like we were admitting defeat (though if you saw my post this morning, you'd know I feel the exact opposite). I don't want things to change just because of this, as you know--I'm interested in peace and justice because right now we are a world tearing itself to pieces and people like us are the ones who will help it to become stronger and better than it could ever be without us.

You're making sense, and I understand where you're coming from. One thing I've just never told you is that I did lose somebody, though I didn't know until 2 months later, so today holds some significance. And there's no need to shut up--you're being honest and rational here (as you've always been), and I have some emotional stock in this (as I always do).

~Adam

[marathoner452.livejournal.com]

I did see your post. And the fact that you lost someone that day helps me understand it a little better.

It's an emotional experience around here too. For those of us living on the East Coast at the time, it was even more scary. Like having my mom call me up and say we're leaving for Michigan because she thought the WTC in Baltimore was attacked in addition to the Pentagon.

DC is within commuting distance from home for me, or kinda, since it took 3 hours to get here today but you know what I mean. We have more emotional stock in 9/11 than do most people in the Midwest or on the West Coast.

I saw the WTC site when it was still very raw. It was only about 2 months later and they still had the remains of the towers sticking out and the lost persons notes on the fences and everything. You don't forget that easily.

~Bethany