Wounded

On September 11, 2001, America was wounded. The entire county felt it, stifling emotions.

         We are coming up on twenty-five years since the 9/11 attack on America. I believe it is important that we don’t forget about it. This is some of what America experienced that day and how I believe most of us who lived through it felt. I tried to make the history of it relevant to today. 

         On that day 285 million American citizens experienced a tragedy on our soil. America had come under attack. Do you remember where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001? Four airplanes crashed into the New York Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. America was physically wounded. Americans were fearful, tearful, and angry when they heard about those airliners.

         How did you feel at 8:46 a.m. when a plane hit one of the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York city? What did you feel when you heard a second plane hit the second tower at 9:02 a.m.? Then at 9:37 a.m. a third plane crashed into the Pentagon. Do you remember what your thoughts were at that moment?  Was America being attacked? Twenty minutes after the Pentagon was hit, the second tower struck by an airplane began to crumble. It was 9:59 a.m. By 10;28 a.m. both towers had collapsed.  

Every American, and much of the world, was aware of what was happening in the United States. Most believed America had been attacked but didn’t know why or what to do. The attack seemed to be happening only on the East coast.

          Were you talking about this with or to someone? Were you fearful? Were you tearful? Were you angry? Can you remember how you felt?

          But the tragedy was not over! By 9:45 a.m. airspace over the United States had been shut down. All civilian aircraft were ordered to land at the nearest airport. At 9:55 a.m. the President was in the air on Air Force One. At 10:02 a.m. a fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania!  

America was told the plane was hijacked by terrorist (a word we had heard several times by then on that fateful day). Their intent was to crash it into the US Capitol Building. We later learned several passengers rushed the cockpit to fight the hijackers and prevent the plane from crashing into the terrorist intended target. They all died in that rural Somerset County field in Pennsylvania. Did your feelings again change after you heard this new information? Four airplanes successfully took American lives. What was to be the fate of the rest of the country? America was stressed, no doubt, and wounded. To ease America’s anxiety, President Bush addressed the nation at 8:30 p.m. America slept restlessly that night.

America woke up on September 12, 2001, to lots of crying, lots of questions, lots of sympathy and empathy. America was dazed and bewildered. Almost paralyzed. America wondered if its citizens had really been attacked on their own soil.

          In the days following the attack, America and the world saw news coverage of those four airplanes and the carnage they left behind. We sat glued to the TV and watched the New York twin towers crash down in clouds of smoke. We saw images of survivors, covered in the powdered remnants of those collapsed towers, running out of clouds of smoke. We heard about the brave firemen and policemen running into those towers attempting to rescue those who were trapped inside the burning buildings. Many of them, like those they tried to rescue, died as the towers crashed down around them. When the twin towers fell 441 first responders lost their lives along with nearly 2,200 civilians.  

          There were images of the Pentagon damage. We saw the burned field in Pennsylvania where the brave passengers died taking down the hijackers and wondered what if they had not been successful.

          Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives the day before. This includes civilians and hijackers. There was still lots of crying, lots of questions, lots of sympathy and empathy. The country was stunned.  An attack had happened on American soil. Most of us felt like we were punched in the stomach. How was our country going to react to this surprise attack? 

          What about September 11, 2026:

We have all had time to reflect and years of history are behind us. A quarter of a century later what are your feelings? Time can give one a different perspective. Have your interpretations of what happened twenty-five years ago and why it happened changed?    

          Are you still talking about this with or to someone? Do you still remember how you felt?   Are you fearful? Are you tearful? Are you angry? Is what happened on 9-11-01 as important to you today as it was on that fateful day?

          I believe most Americans felt safe before that tragedy. Do you feel safe today? Do you feel the same way, today, for the survivors and those who lost their lives as you did twenty-five years ago? Do you feel the same way about America as you did twenty-five years ago?  If you do feel differently, have you thought about why?

          For me, two things remain the same. God’s presence was and still is today an important part of this event. I spent the following day away from work evaluating my feelings and asking God for His help with my evaluation. I still do.

          I was sitting at my workstation when I heard the news about the planes striking the Twin Towers. Confused and concerned, I thought about my parents. They must have felt the same way when an attack happened on American soil at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. 9-11 is also the day my wife and I celebrate the day we married. I was preparing to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary, September 11, 2001.  But, like almost all Americans that day, we were suffering by day’s end. Celebrating what we had did not seem right. So many had lost so much that day. I most assuredly feel differently about September 11 than I once did. It once was a day of celebration. Twenty-five years later, it is still a day of mixed emotions.

Today there are nearly 57 million people who did not exist on September 11, 2001. They learn about what happened, its emotional attachments, and its significance through the rest of us. What history are we telling them about the wounds America suffered that day?

Is 9-11 just another day? Or, twenty-five years later, have you forgotten?