My 9/11 story

[KLA2]

I was going to post this in response to a BT thread in the "Conspiracy Theories" forum, but thought few might read it there. {Sorry, BT} :P

Here is my 9/11 story.

On that day, about 9:15 AM someone phoned me at my office and said “Turn on CNN.” I went to the boardroom, turned on the TV, watched and listened as the horrors unfolded.

At the time, my office was near the Toronto international airport. “Pearson.” From the office balconies, we could watch the planes landing and taking off. Around 10:00, many more planes than usual started flying overhead and landing. No take offs, just landings. As close together as emergency safety regulations allowed – probably a jumbo jet every 30 seconds. Landing. Landing. Landing. Hour after hour.

By afternoon, the view of the airport was surreal. Hundreds of planes, mostly American airline companies, parked everywhere. I don’t know how they found the space. Still the planes kept landing, none taking off.

People from around our building, aware that we had a TV, wandered in, sat or stood, mostly silent, in the boardroom. Many remained until late afternoon, when we closed the office.

I cannot describe my feelings, without sounding trite. The suffering of the victims was unimaginable. All hope and dreams and optimism for a better world and future just slowly drained away as the hours went by. Friends and clients phoned, perhaps hoping for words of encouragement. I had none to give.

It was not hard to perceive where this would lead.

In addition to the horrendous cost being paid by Americans and many others, today Canadian soldiers are still fighting and dieing in Afghanistan. They will be for some time to come. Canadian firefighters quit their jobs to drive to New York and volunteer to labour in the toxic air with their American brethren, striving to find survivors. Some will sicken and die before their time as a result.

I did not know personally anyone who died, but that day and its aftermath will forever haunt me.

[troubleagain]

Thanks for sharing that, KLA2.

[KLA2]

^ Thanks, TA. I hoped others would post their stories. (Later, Lance could sell a book! :wink: )

No one did. :(

[troubleagain]

I could, I suppose. It's just not very dramatic.

Every Tuesday morning, I had to attend a meeting. Someone showed up late to the meeting and said a plane had just hit the WTC. I remembered the bombing of the WTC some years before and said that I hoped it wasn't another terrorist attack. The meeting was ending, so I walked back to my department. We have a tv in there with satellite service. I walked back in just in time to see the second plane hit. Then I knew I was right. Damn it. I wish I'd been wrong.

I called my husband, and he already knew about it. Since we had the only tv in the complex, people were in and out of our department all day. I spent a large part of the day on the SDMB, because the news sites were jammed, and people were posting news as they heard it, and reporting who was okay that we knew in NYC.

Also, we had a hotel in the WTC complex, and it was completely destroyed. (Now you probably knew who I work for if you didn't before.) We were worried for our fellow associates and the guests. Turns out we lost one associate and one guest out of all that. The financial damage to our NYC presence was real, though. That hotel was completely gone. The Financial District hotel was damaged. We were allowed to donate leave-time to the NYC associates whose hotels were destroyed/closed so that they wouldn't be financially impacted any more than could be helped while they were placed elsewhere, or until their hotel was reopened, whichever.

There was a member on the SDMB who worked in the WTC. People jumped the gun and assumed she was dead, which is just a fine example of the hysteria that day. She was not dead, and I think she wasn't even in the building. She now lives in Florida and I talk to her online regularly. I did not know anyone who died that day.

We had a job to do, though, and we continued our work, with people trooping in and out, and some in tears, and all of us worried for the future. We got a lot of praise from our boss for our professionalism that day.

I was very happy to come home to my husband that night and get a much-needed hug. We watched a lot of tv over the new few days. Probably too much.

A month later, the impact on the travel and hospitality industry became obvious, and there was a round of layoffs which affected EVERYONE in our company--no department was unaffected. We all did without raises for 18 months, and our CEO did without his salary entirely (I think some others did, too), which was nice--I hate when it's only the "little people" who have to sacrifice.

A few years ago, I got to visit the WTC site. It was "underwhelming" to me, though. I don't know what I expected, but basically, it was just a big concrete basin, with a fence around it. There were still roses and cards, and stuff being left. There was a piece of steel in the shape of a cross that was left standing, with a flag flying from it. Those were the only sign, really, that so many people died there.

There, that's mine.

[KLA2]

Thanks, TA. Your life was obviously more affected by the event than mine was.

Anyone else?