Today we commemorate the date of those innocent people who lost their lives by the terrorist attack that we all know as 911. Although I live about 30 minutes away from one of the sites where the most people were killed (the World Trade Center), I have yet to find the courage to visit. It is too hard breaking and too difficult to not seeing the two towers and just remember how it all started and how it all fell apart.
I remember that on this day I took my bus to work as usual. I reported to work as usual and was working in my office. I do not remember exactly but one of my co-workers was having problem with her PC and I went to fix it. As I am working on the computer, I hear the commotion outside and heard the news. At first, I did not know what to think and thought to myself these people have to be joking. I took a deep breath and only then I knew the severity of the problem, when I looked through the conference room window and saw the first tower in flame. We were all paralized. It was a clear day and we had a quite excellent view of downtown Manhattan. We are located on the 9th floor of 168th street uptown.
As we are standing there waiting to hear something on the radio, we are all confused, the radio is giving mixed messages, no one knows what is happening. We saw another explotion and did not know what was it until the radio reported the second plane hitting the second tower. We could not believe what was happening right in front of our eyes. We could not move, we could not talk. Then we saw what we never expected -- the collapse of the towers. One by one they went down in front of our eyes. We all reached for the phones and were unable to comunicate with our families. We were afraid but confident that not everything was lost. We did not know the magnitude of the problem.
Our boss told us that everyone should leave home. There was no electricity, there was no subway, and there was no buses. No car was allowed to enter Manhattan and only cars were allowed to leave but the traffic was so heavy that no one could find a taxi. I had to walk about 20 miles until I reached a bus line that was working. As I was walking I saw lines and lines of cars, trucks, and buses all stranded by the traffic jam that this event produced. It extended for miles and miles without ever seeing the end (so it seems). As I reached the bus, the MTA decided to not charge passengers and everyone was riding for free. Everyone on the bus was extremely quiet. No one talked. Everyone was concerned. Everyone looked sad. I kept listening to the radio and then I remember friends that I knew that worked at the WTC. What happened to them? When I've got home, my wife had picked up the children from school already and they were home. I tried to reach my friends but I couldn't. I later found out that they missed being at the WTC because they were late for work! A relief. But there were many others that were not so lucky and WE REMEMBER THEM ALL.
If you have memories of the day, would you like to share it.
I remember that on this day I took my bus to work as usual. I reported to work as usual and was working in my office. I do not remember exactly but one of my co-workers was having problem with her PC and I went to fix it. As I am working on the computer, I hear the commotion outside and heard the news. At first, I did not know what to think and thought to myself these people have to be joking. I took a deep breath and only then I knew the severity of the problem, when I looked through the conference room window and saw the first tower in flame. We were all paralized. It was a clear day and we had a quite excellent view of downtown Manhattan. We are located on the 9th floor of 168th street uptown.
As we are standing there waiting to hear something on the radio, we are all confused, the radio is giving mixed messages, no one knows what is happening. We saw another explotion and did not know what was it until the radio reported the second plane hitting the second tower. We could not believe what was happening right in front of our eyes. We could not move, we could not talk. Then we saw what we never expected -- the collapse of the towers. One by one they went down in front of our eyes. We all reached for the phones and were unable to comunicate with our families. We were afraid but confident that not everything was lost. We did not know the magnitude of the problem.
Our boss told us that everyone should leave home. There was no electricity, there was no subway, and there was no buses. No car was allowed to enter Manhattan and only cars were allowed to leave but the traffic was so heavy that no one could find a taxi. I had to walk about 20 miles until I reached a bus line that was working. As I was walking I saw lines and lines of cars, trucks, and buses all stranded by the traffic jam that this event produced. It extended for miles and miles without ever seeing the end (so it seems). As I reached the bus, the MTA decided to not charge passengers and everyone was riding for free. Everyone on the bus was extremely quiet. No one talked. Everyone was concerned. Everyone looked sad. I kept listening to the radio and then I remember friends that I knew that worked at the WTC. What happened to them? When I've got home, my wife had picked up the children from school already and they were home. I tried to reach my friends but I couldn't. I later found out that they missed being at the WTC because they were late for work! A relief. But there were many others that were not so lucky and WE REMEMBER THEM ALL.
If you have memories of the day, would you like to share it.
. As we headed out we noticed the main street by their apartment had some luminaries (little white paper bags with sand and candles in them) along on both sides for a half-mile or so.
