9/11: Where Were You?
Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of one of our nation’s worst tragedies. These types of things always beg the question, “Where were you when it happened?”
I was a senior at Georgetown College. I had a pretty cool schedule that semester – no classes before 11 a.m. Sleeping in was an every day thing for me. On this particular day, I woke up to the sound of sirens. I could hear my dorm neighbor in the hallway talking to someone. They were talking about something crashing into a building. Since I heard sirens, I thought maybe someone had crashed their vehicle into one of the buildings on campus. I happened to turn on the TV and quickly found out what had actually happened.
By the time I found out, both buildings had already been hit, and one had already collapsed. Shock and amazement set in when I saw people hanging out of and jumping from windows. Seeing the second building collapse and knowing there were still people inside was unbelievable. It was hard to realize this wasn’t Hollywood. We watch movies with death and destruction and almost think it’s “cool” because we know it isn’t real. This was quite real.
Georgetown canceled classes that day. There was a prayer service held in the chapel that afternoon, but I didn’t attend. I had not yet become a Christian, so any thoughts of God, or how He could let something like this happen, were far from my thoughts. I ended up going to Lexington that afternoon. I was taking piano lessons at the time and needed to pick up a book that my instructor told me to get. It was surreal to drive into Lexington and not see planes flying overhead, coming into and leaving from Bluegrass Airport.
If you’re interested in leaving your story, feel free to post a comment.
I was working at a soup kitchen in Shelbyville when it happened. One of the members of our missionary team came outside and told us that a plane had hit the first tower. We thought it was an out of control cessna. We she came back out and told us of a second plane, we knew something was happening that was much bigger than a misguided aircraft. The rest of the day was much like most everyone else’s. When we finished up at the soup kitchen we were glued to the tv the rest of the evening.
Josh Martin
11 Sep 07 at 2:18 am
I was sitting at my desk at work when word of the first plane hitting came over my radio. It didn’t phase me at first. The announcer’s voice became frantic and with that, I sat up and listened. It was then that the second plane hit the other tower. I began to pray for all those involved and after a while, left my desk to watch it on T.V. When I witnessed the towers collapsing, it was the most terrible feeling. To know those people were inside that tower trying to escape with their lives. It almost seemed like prayer wasn’t enough but I continued to pray. Everyone around me was in such shock. The sight of the events of that day are still embedded in my mind today.
Mom
11 Sep 07 at 3:50 am
On the morning of 9/11 Joseph and I were going to meet Melinda at Crestwood for a meeting of some sort (can’t remember what for) and then go shopping and have lunch. I heard about the first plane while I was pulling out of my garage. The second plane hit while we were in Rick’s office with about 7 of us watching the news on his little 13-inch tv. It was such a weird feeling. Both Melinda and I had to get groceries and we weren’t sure what was going to happen next so we canceled the meeting and headed straight for Wal-mart. The feeling of walking into such a large store that is normally hopping with people at 10am in the morning to find it almost silent and calm was very strange. No one smiled at us, no one greeted us (which was to be expected), and there were television sets up all over the store showing the news. No one really talked. Most of the workers were standing around with their mouths open in shock. The talk that we heard was of people saying what should be done, how can we help, etc.
The strangest part of my day came next when I took Joseph to eat at McDonald’s. As you know, most people don’t give you a second look when you enter a fast-food place, but this day was different. There were so many people staring at us that it was really uncomfortable. I didn’t get it at first, until a man of about 35 came over and asked my how I could bring “that boy” in a place like McDonald’s. I couldn’t believe it. At this point in the day rumors about who, what, how, etc. were everywhere. People started to get seriously afraid of anything that was different from themselves…even a 18 month old baby from Thailand. I tried to explain that we had adopted him earlier in the year and he was a sweet boy, but then it hit me that I was trying to make this man feel better about having my son eat in a public place! It was then that we left and went straight back to Crestwood and I spent a lot of time in the sanctuary just praying trying to figure things out.
It was such a hard day. Our family was panicked about getting in touch with Will and Lori especially since they spent a great deal of time in the city. Luckily, they were running late that morning and had not yet left he house when the first plane hit. However, it took forever to get that news because of the jammed phone lines. Tim also had a hard time getting home from Cincinnati that day because he was working downtown at the time and there had been bomb threats on a lot of buildings there. It was good to finally get in touch with him and know that he was safe and on his way home.
Cari
13 Sep 07 at 8:28 am