What Do You Remember about 9/11?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns remembering 9/11. Twenty-five years ago, America and Americans suffered one of the worst days, one of the darkest days in our history. It was the first time since Pearl Harbor that someone attacked the United States on our own soil.

On the morning of September 11, 2001 – 9/11 – terrorists attacked the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a fourth plane in Pennsylvania. Hundreds of people were killed, and our nation was deeply shocked. Everyone who lived through that day will remember where they were and what they were doing when they first heard the news of the attack.

I remember where I was when I heard that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. I remember where I was when I heard that President Ronald Reagan had been shot. I remember where I was when I heard that the tower had been hit. My first thought was that a private pilot had been where they should not have been. When the second tower was hit – and I learned that the airplanes were actually airliners – I knew that America had been deliberately attacked.

I remember where I was when I heard that the first tower was hit. My teenage daughter was in her bedroom listening to the news when I entered the room to braid her hair. It was shortly after 5:00 in the morning. Some minutes later, I was at the meetinghouse preparing to teach a group of teenagers a spiritual lesson. A group of my students entered the classroom and told me that the second tower had been hit.

I came home from Seminary that morning to find my husband and newly married son waiting for me with the news. They told me that my daughter-in-law’s red-eye flight was changed from a stopover in Seattle to a non-stop flight to Salt Lake City. She had safely arrived home before the skies were closed.

I remember driving out to Lake Hood that day to get something out of the shed for my husband. There was no one at the lake – one of the busiest float plane bases in the world next to an international airport. There were no airplanes flying, and no workers at any of the aviation-related businesses.

I remember the silence of the skies. It was moose season, a time of year when large numbers of private pilots fly out to hunting camps and return with meat for the winter. There were no airplanes in the skies, and the whole area was strangely quiet.

I remember our own excitement/fear when we learned that an airliner was headed to Anchorage – not knowing about the event in New York City. Authorities here thought that another attack was happening, but they were able to talk to the pilot and divert the flight to Canada.

I remember my daughter coming home from school and exclaiming about all the flags flying along her route home. Our flag was also flying.

I remember September 12, 2001, when members of Congress stood on the steps of the Capitol Building, holding US flags and singing “God Bless America, in a spontaneous chorus.

I remember the changes in security at federal buildings and airports. I hate the twenty-five years of taking off shoes and jackets to clear security before I could board an airplane.