9/11/01 Remembered

As a freshman in college, I felt on top of the world.  Only one week into my first semester at Eastern Connecticut State University, I was in love with college.  High school was cool, you got to see your friends every day, you had some work to do, or at least to procrastinate, and then you went home.  In college you got more of the same, but were able to expand immensely if you chose, in terms of friends, fun, and the education would push you past your comfort zone, testing your ability to think, deconstruct, reconstruct, and persuade.  Most of what and how we think is based on our environment.  Our environment controls the how of how we see the world and the people around us.  Living in New England is a general statement because not all of its states act in the same way.  Some parts do, mostly the cities, but growing up in Connecticut is seems as if there is no stop button to push.  From my experience, Connecticut’s lifestyle is fast paced, get up, get ready quickly, get to work as fast as possible, do your work faster than it comes in, or work longer hours to keep up with the pace, drive home even faster, eat your dinner before someone else does, then repeat.

The day the world slowed down, I was not thinking about fishing.  I was walking to class quickly so I had time to buy a coffee before my writing lab.  The usual scene in the lobby of Webb hall is about a half a dozen students are buying coffee as a half a dozen more are piling into the stair well or impatiently waiting for the elevator to get to class.  On this day, I opened the door to a mob of people all staring at the television mounted on the wall above the elevator.  The scenario on the television was a shot of the world trade center's twin towers with smoke billowing out of both of the towers.  The muted TV displayed subtitles indicating that two planes had crashed into the towers, the details had not yet emerged.  All I knew was that the holes in the buildings were large and that I had to tell someone.  I walked up the first flight of stairs trying to process how a plane could fly into a building even by accident.  Other students flew past me in a hurry to get to class on time.  I turned the corner out of the stair well and took another look at the same TV but the angle was weird and I continued to class. 

About a minute before the proverbial “bell” rang I walked directly to my professor and asked if she had seen what had just happened.  Dr. M. asked what happened, and I said, “Two planes have flown into the twin towers of the world trade center in New York City.”  I added, “It seems like someone did this on purpose.”  My professor dismissed what I was trying to say for the moment to begin class, but there was a stir in the classroom from the students that was beyond anyone’s control.  The phone rang and Dr. M answered to receive the message that confirmed what I had said a few minutes before.  Our class was dismissed but it wasn’t an official school closure.  While I was packing my backpack up, I noticed Dr. M who was usually strong and steadfast, sit down in the chair by a desk in the room and begin to weep.  That image was burned into my mind, as the towers in New York were burning in flames.

Today we commemorate those who were lost in the attacks, and those whose lives were forever changed.  We stand strong in the unity of our country and our people.  On the darkest of days in our countries history, our people see through it by the light of our freedom, strength, and perseverance.