So sad...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:P200336.jpg
That picture really gets me. Can't see individual faces, but still.
I know nobody here will ever forget.
It is hard to believe it was five years ago. In so many ways it seems like just yesterday. There are at least a dozen moments in my life, from that day, that are burnt into my memory forever.
I feel like I can remember every little detail from the minute I found out, to the minute I went to sleep that night.
I remember finding out as I was riding on a bus into San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge. I happened to live just out of town for about a year in 2001, and took a commuter bus into the city every morning to work. I turned on my walkman radio right as we approached the bridge to the usual drive-time rock/pop station I listened to.
I was so confused by what I was hearing. I tuned right when the DJ's were trying to get more information and were struggling. They were, in a sense, in over their head. It was the only station I could get clearly, so I stuck with them. Just as I was starting to figure out was going on, they broke in and said the second tower had been hit as well. They were sooo shaken, it was hard to listen to.
I still didn't have a notion of the eventual magnitude of the events I was hearing relayed to me. It was so bizarre listening to the report as I am riding on a bus, over a world famous bridge, and eventually into downtown San Francisco. I had a slight uneasiness, but what could I do?
I was on the same bus as I always was, with the same faces I saw every morning. But, I didn't really know any of these people, beyond knowing which seats they all preferred each morning. I was the only one, that I could tell, listening to a radio, with most people just reading the newspaper or sleeping. I wanted to take off my radio and start telling people, but I didn't.
As we rolled into town and got to my stop (which was the last stop on the line), I walked towards the front of the bus. Just before I got off, I stopped and took my headphones off. The driver, was this late 30's Asian woman. She was a hippy wannabee or something, and had dreadlocks. I just had to tell someone, so I said to her "Do you know what is happening? ... Someone crashed two planes into the Twin Towers in NY" She looked at me, completely not understanding what I was saying. How could she?
Interestingly, she took what I said as truth, and said "You know, my people used to crash planes into things during WWII... why do people do that?"
It was such a surreal comment, coming from someone that had no understanding of what was happening. But that is the single most vivid impression I have of that day. Her saying that.
I of course got to work, and all my coworkers were enthralled with the goings on. We eventually closed the office by 9am Pacific, as the city was suggesting people leave downtown SF. Nobody knew if more strikes were coming, perhaps to the west coast.
I remember a coworker, who's wife was a flight attendant for United, trying to get ahold of her, and the rest of us just sitting around not knowing what to do. We probably all realized shit was changed forever, but basically we just reacted with useless awe.
Just thinking of that day brought that experience back to the foreground of my mind. I have honestly never really vocalized or journaled that full morning, until now. Isn't it amazing how things can stick in your mind?
Anyway.... I am sure you all have your own moments from that day. Any of you around NY, probably have even more relevant memories, but I just wanted to share my memory of that day 5 years ago.
Politics and theories aside:
Here's to NYC, victims of 9/11, and their families today. :clap: :clap: :clap:
