9/11 at 25: What I Remember
Yesterday I watched hours of the 25th anniversary coverage of September 11th, and the memories came back one after another.
One fact from the broadcast stayed with me: about a third of Americans alive today, more than 100 million people, have no memory of 9/11. Many were too young, and many weren't born yet. For them it's a chapter in a history book. For those of us who were there, it's still a morning we can walk through step by step.
So I want to write mine down.
An ordinary commute
Some of you may not know that I used to work right next to the World Trade Center, in the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan.
On a normal morning, around 8:30, I'd be crossing the World Trade Center plaza on my way to the office. That's the same place where, and when, the first plane struck.
That morning, my PATH train never reached the World Trade Center. It was diverted, and we got off in Greenwich Village. When we came up from the station there was chaos. Looking south, we could see smoke pouring from the top of the towers.
Nobody knew what was happening. Bit by bit, we pieced it together from people on the street. The subways had stopped, and cell phones didn't work. It became clear there was no point going downtown towards the office.
There was no way back to New Jersey that day, so I walked north for many miles to my elder sister's home and spent the night there. Eileen, who was home with the toddler, was worried sick and could not get any news of me till late that evening.
What stays with me
Twenty-five years later, the images I remember most clearly are from TV of the people on the highest floors who chose to jump rather than burn in the inferno. I don't think anyone who saw those images has ever fully set them down.
I also remember what came after.
Many Americans, a lot of them young, answered that day by serving. They enlisted in the armed forces, or became firefighters and paramedics, and chose to run toward danger for strangers. That response is as much a part of 9/11 as the attack itself.
Why I'm writing this
If you're one of the young people who don't remember that day, this is one small piece of it from someone who was nearly there.
Ask the people in your life where they were that morning. Most of them will tell you right away, in detail, as if it happened last week.
If you do remember, I'd like to hear your story. Please share it in the comments.