I recall that horrible day like it was yesterday. I had been up all night on my computer, mostly doing things with MS Train Simulator, and around 8:45 that morning was ready to lie down for a few hours. Shortly after that my brother called. He mentioned that planes had hit the World Trade Center. Since nobody in my house watches TV or listens to radio that time of day I may well have been blissfully unaware of anything until dinner time had my brother not called. Anyway, soon afterwards I turned on the TV. My brother came over shortly after. At first I thought it may have been small planes but not after I saw the gaping holes in each of the buildings. Flashbacks showed the second plane slamming into the South Tower, confirming everyone's fears that this was a deliberate attack. As I saw the buildings burning I didn't think they would fall. I figured the dead were in the hundreds easily but once the fires went out the towers could be repaired.
At 9:59 there were reports in the area of what sounded like an explosion. It took until the dust started clearing before much of the news media realized that the sound was of the South Tower collapsing. I sat stunned in disbelief. I knew if this one went then the other one probably would as well. At 10:29 the North Tower fell. There was no more World Trade Center. I went numb. Two huge buildings I had seen rise with my grandfather as a child were now in ruins. I didn't even want to think about how many deaths I had just seen on live television. The papers the day after said 10,000 possibly dead. Certainly there would be few if any survivors. How could anything possibly survive in a half million ton tidal wave of debris?
In between when the towers were hit and when they collapsed Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. It was clear the nation was under attack. All day long I kept wondering what was coming next. Was the WTC attack just a prelude to a nuclear blast in Midtown? The events of the day had made me think of this as a possibility. As what was left of the towers burned it seemed that other structures around them might follow. Seven World Trade Center was leaning badly. At 5:25 PM it went in another tidal wave of debris. For days afterwards authorities were unsure of the condition of quite a few other structures as well but fortunately none of them collapsed.
I didn't sleep that night, or the next, or the one after that. Given the events I thought it probable that I might be facing my last time on this planet. I wanted the end to come with my eyes wide open. When I finally did sleep, nightmares awoke me. These persisted for months, as did an unsettling feeling every time I went to Manhattan that the structures there could suddenly collapse. And I shed endless tears looking at pictures of the victims.
Two weeks after the attack I saw the destruction with my own eyes. Structures were full of debris up to their fifteenth floors. I saw parts of the towers embedded in the World Financial Center. I saw what was left of the outer shell of the towers. I smelled the horrible odor of burning debris and flesh. The air around the site was thick with the stench of death. Most horribly, I learned that my neighbor's 37 year old son, who had recently married and had an unborn son, had perished in the South Tower. Ironically he had left the building when the plane hit the North Tower but went back up because he had forgotten something. This person was someone I had known for over 22 years. I had sometimes ridden the subways with him when we were both in high school, he in Stuyvesant and me in Bronx Science. I had talked with him when he went to college. I saw him build a life for himself. I sadly saw it all crumble that day in an instant even though I didn't know until days later. His story was repeated over 3,000 times on that day.
All we can do is to vow it never happens again.
whoopin em!
