9/11, 10 years later
It is kind off surreal to me, that 9/11 is already 10 years ago! It was a Tuesday afternoon for me (6 hours of time difference with New York) and I was at my work at my former employer; Internet company Lost Boys (Business Solutions). Around 15:10, which was about 20 minutes after the first plane hit the North tower of the WTC, the news trickled in at my work.
The initial reports where that a “small airplane” had hit the WTC. My first thought was, “wow, that’s a freak accident.” I also thought about the fact that in 1945 a B-25 bomber hit the Empire State Building.
In 1996 I had first visited New York with two buddies of mine. We all went to see the WTC and went all the way to the top to enjoy the view from the roof. We also peaked inside “The Windows on the World restaurant” on the North tower. I was very much impressed with the view and the building. I thought it was a modern marvel. At one of the vending machines I flattened a penny and imprinted it with the outline of the Twin Towers.
Five years later, when I revisited NYC in may 2001 with my girlfriend Carrie and her son Zach, we only visited the Empire State Building, which was just around the corner from our hotel. I told my girlfriend that the view from Empire State was a lot cooler, because you can see more of Manhattan. In that sense I didn’t think it was worth paying for the WTC as well.
Instead, we just walked around the area of the WTC and gazed up those two gigantic towers that we also admired from the water some days before when we took the famous tour around Manhattan in one of those tour boats; something I always recommend to do whenever I hear someone is going to visit the Big Apple for the first time.
I was thinking about this while going on with my business as usual, when some minutes later the news of a second plane hitting the South tower of the WTC came in (in reality the second plane had hit at 9:03am (or 15:03 CET) already: the news just was delayed). Also the reports changed to both planes being commercial aircraft’s.
Everyone hearing that news at my work was in shock because we all knew immediately that it was a terrorist attack. No doubt about it.
News was very sketchy at first: according to some sources there where more hijacked planes in the air and the US air-force was en-route to shoot them out of the sky.
As we didn’t have any TV’s at my work (we had moved to a new building just recently) we where depending on news that trickled in through the radio and Internet websites (as I worked at an internet company).
Within minutes however, it seemed like the Internet halted worldwide. There was so much data traffic (remember: it was 2001) that newspaper web-servers all over the world buckled under the sheer traffic. In Holland hardly any website could be reached.
Then, around 4pm we got the news that the Pentagon was hit as well. When I heard that news my first thought was “Wow, this is like a modern Pearl Harbour“.
I remember calling my girlfriend at her work and asking her if she was watching the news as well. Which was the case off course.
In fact, as she works and lives in Tallahassee, capital of Florida, there was quite a scare there as well: rumor had it that governor Jeb Bush (brother of president Bush) was a target as well and since the Governor’s mansion was just blocks away from her work, people were very anxious as well.
Off course the rest of the day we didn’t get any work done, as we where trying to get more news of what happened. Off course the CNN website was down and so where other news sources.
It wasn’t until around 6pm that day that I went to a friend’s home to watch the news with him and seeing – for the first time that day – what had happened on TV.
It dawned upon me that we were witness to a history – or better world – changing event. I knew for sure that the world would not be the same after 9/11 2001.
And now, 10 years later that notion has become truth. After 9/11 the world has changed in many respects.
And it’s not for the better if you ask me. But that’s another story.
Ps: to see some of the newspaper headlines of 9/11/2001 see this link.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Related Links:
Related posts:
