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September 11, 2009

Patriot Day

There is so much I am still feeling and reading about that I can't say it yet. This was such a shock that morning to be driving to work and turned on the radio to hear the tail end of someone talking about what looked like a war had begun and that this country had never seen anything like it. I did not know the country they were talking about was this country, the USA. I remember thinking uh oh something really horrible must be happening in some small country and my heart went out to them and I made a mental note to find out about it later. And headed into work. The entire space of offices across from where I worked was taken up with computer specialists who were police officers and detectives who worked the internet tracking down criminals, in particular pervs seeking young people. When I walked upstairs one of the officers came out of the office across from ours and asked if I was okay. I said I was and why was he asking, he said if I needed to come in to their office till someone else came to work they would welcome me there. Note: No one was ever allowed into their offices. Then he told me about what they knew so far about the twin towers. It still would not register in my pea brain. You mean the tail end of the news story I heard on my car radio as I pulled into the parking lot at work was actually a true story about the United States? To this day it is so incomprehensible to me. This is one holiday on the calendar that I cannot say "Happy Patriot Day", how can the word happy be associated with 9-11-2001?

7 comments:

Shadow said...

it was shocking and unbelieveable. even to me not even living in america. remember rebuild and heal!

Julie said...

Hi, Technobabe. You have put up a very important post. I was like you...in complete shock when it happened. I was also at work, and the boss turned on the television. We sat there and watched the towers fall. It was surreal. The boss ended up letting us go home, because everyone was so upset. After the initial shock wore off came the overwhelming grief at the horrible loss of lives. It's still hard to articulate all of the emotions I feel about it.

Thank you so much for posting this today. It means a lot. I agree with you. I will never associate "happy" with 9-11.

Ina in Alaska said...

8 years ago I was in NJ and was scheduled to depart out of Newark Airport at 5:30 pm. I was headed to take a shower when I saw the first plane slam into the WTC. My mom and I thought it was a small plane, but as the horror of the morning unfolded it was too much. I headed up to the beach later that day and could see smoke trailing across the sky from NYC. Very sad. So many lives wasted that tragic day. I still feel like it was yesterday.

Joanna Jenkins said...

It was an awful day with images we'll never forget :-( Thanks for this meaningful post. God bless you and God bless America.
xo

Kandi said...

I guess in the same way that we can celebrate Memorial day with beach outings and picnics, we will someday look at 9/11 as a day when the country was completely unified, and we can honor those who were heroes on that day. Maybe it is just too soon to make that leap yet.

Anonymous said...

I watched the news from the UK. I was managing a children's home for kids who had been sexually abused - On this day we all huddled around the TV and watched in united grief. This was the first day I had seen these children reach out and see passed their own pain. On this day the world grieved together.

Brian Miller said...

it was a very surreal day in 2001...still hard to imagine and will never forget sitting in the ATL airport after our emergency landing with tens of thousands of others...surreal.