Facebook is used less and less from the digital meeting space it used to be, and also 9/11 remembrances are smaller. The motto is "Never Forget", but many of the fireman standing for the local ceremony must hardly have been born in 2001. What happens when no one is left to remember? Today I read the very excellent The Only Plane in the Sky by Garrett Graff; first person accounts from that day. I felt chills like I hadn't in a long time. Actually, in the chapter "The 9/11 Generation", one GWU student (seemingly a freshman in HOVA) was featured, Natasha Wright: "I will never forget how surreal it was returning to the dorm and turning the TVs on. Finding out the Pentagon had been hit. Watching Residents of the Watergate across the street from us be evacuated as we were on lockdown and couldn't leave. The panic began to spread; students on my floor cried together. Some residents packed bags to walk across the bridge and out of the city. Most of us sat in shock. I cried — a lot. We barely knew one another and we were instantly bonded." One day written words will be all that's left. I'm recording below the few Facebook postings from people that were in DC or NY that day. In earlier anniversaries there were more.
TW (GWU Class of 2003) It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since waking up on GW’s campus to hearing about the first plane hitting the tower, watching the second plane hit on live tv and then seeing smoke rising from the Pentagon from my dorm window. Rumors ran rampant about car bombs and a desperate struggle to find a working phone. I am so grateful to have found my closest friends on campus so we could navigate the day together. The images will never leave my mind. Never forget the hero’s and victims from that day.
SD (GWU Class of 2004) It’s hard to imagine 25 years have passed for a day that will be engrained in my memory forever. As a 20-year-old college student living blocks from the White House, a short ride from the Pentagon, the immense fear of that day - those hours - changed who I was and how I thought by life. Understanding we do not get to choose what happens in the next moment and relaying deeply on my faith is a lesson I learned at a young age. But it’s our duty to talk about that day. It’s a hard story to tell children, but we must. And while discussing with Tess the events of 9/11, as hard as that may be for a 10-year-old to hear, we also told her the stories of the heroes we saw that day - the first responders, the police officers and the innocent lives lost. And we also told her about the days that followed. The churches overflowing, the memorial services of every faith community joining together and the peaceful discussions with others comprehending this new world. We explained that even after those dark days, we saw peace, love and hope. I am grateful to live in a town that will never forget. Today we attended the dedication of a new memorial - remembering those who lost their lives that day and honoring our first responders for the job they did and continue to do every day. May we all never forget and continue to tell the story of the 9/11 heroes for generations to come.
EMP (GWU Class of 2003) 25 years ago I was a 20 year old college student in DC sleeping late because I never scheduled a class before 11. Somehow my Grandfather [...] was able to get through to my cell shortly after the second tower was hit. At the time we still didn't know where the third and fourth planes were, but figured they were coming my way. My dorm was only blocks from the White House and even closer to the State Department. I remember that fear like it was yesterday. Never forget.
AR (GWU Class of 2005) 25 years ago today, I was a freshman at GW, having moved away from home for the first time in my life, just about to turn 18 years old. Like many college freshman, I had a terrible schedule, including back-to-back classes starting at 8 AM— at least they were in the same building. after my first class, I went to the ground floor of the building to grab coffee from the coffee cart. As I was headed back into the elevator to go to my second class, my professor said that she heard something about planes in New York, but we had no idea what was going on. It was only about 9:20 AM and this was an age before social media and mass adoption of cell phones. As I sat on the third floor of the building, facing towards Northern Virginia for the next hour and fifteen minutes, I watched smoke rise from the Pentagon in the distance. After class, I headed straight back to my residence hall, but was told I had to report underground to the closest DC Metro stop because there was a bomb threat at the White House. My parents tried to call me for hours, but all of the phone lines were jammed. It was one of the most consequential, formative experiences in my life. I was already a little old for my age, but I felt I really had to grow up quickly that day. My heart goes out to the thousands of victims’ families, including all of the first responders and the countless many who suffered or continue to suffer health consequences in the aftermath.
BP (GWU Class of 2004) This year is the 25th anniversary of 9/11. I can’t sever my memories of this time from the death of Jon. I was still grieving, and then the most traumatic event of my life happened. 9/11, like the JFK assassination for the baby boomers, has been a defining event in my life. Being 19 years old, a sophomore in college in Washington, DC, it seems that every memory I have is timestamped as “before 9/11” or “after 9/11.” My college roommate at the time and I still text or call on the anniversary, as if to make sure we both recognize the trauma we went through together. Twenty-five years later, we still tell each other the same sarcastic joke she said to me on the way off to class. (The day was going to suck because our milk had gone bad.) When I got back from my 8 a.m. class and heard what was happening, I scrawled a note to my roommate to call her family and headed off to my next class. I was stopped in the hallway by the RA, who told me to go back to my room. My roommate came back and said she heard the plane hit the Pentagon while she was in class. She then sent for her hometown friend Peter to come stay with us because she felt better with a “man in the house.” A friend wanted me to go with her to Maryland to her family’s house, but I didn’t want to leave my dorm room because then my parents wouldn’t know where I was. The phone lines were down, and the internet was spotty. I’d learn later it was the only time my dad called my mom at work (she was a 4th grade teacher) and pulled her out of class. He wanted her to know what was happening, and they couldn’t get a hold of me. As we all know, it would take a long time to adjust to the new normal of post-9/11. I think that’s why it is so hard for me to believe 25 years have passed, because I can still put myself in my dorm room next to my roommate, watching the news on our little TV/VHS combo. Every station for days and days covered only 9/11. My grades that semester tanked. I was never good at chemistry, and I definitely didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with it then. And I took some terrible literature class, and the professor just talked about 9/11 for the rest of the semester, so I didn’t do great in that one either. We also fought to name the freshman dorm TV lounge after Jon, which took a fundraising campaign, and we didn’t see it created until we were juniors.
EM (Fordham Class of 2003) Today brings back a lot of difficult memories. I will never forget this day, or what it felt like being at Fordham when it happened. Some memories stay with us forever. 🤍
And lastly, myself, TJC (GWU Class of 2003) Right now I'm looking up at a perfectly clear blue sky. It's the same morning sky I remember 25 years ago in D.C., but with an unmistakable rising smoke plume to the SW. A haunting echo, that same blue snapping me back.
PS: KZ (Salve Regina Class of 2003) to my posting responded "It’s crazy how each year seems to have this same blue sky, sending us right back to those moments when all of the events unfolded on that day, instantly transported" to which I replied "Some memories stay. And it reminds us we were all together looking up at the same sky that day. Sending a hug!"
No comments:
Post a Comment