![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
9/11 - where was i?
Sep. 12th, 2011 06:14 amI didn't make this post yesterday, but of course I remember every detail about where I was when the disaster occurred, and how it affected me.
I was at work when the first patient came through the door shortly after 9:00 AM. He was babbling about something and I couldn't catch what he was saying, although I heard 'World Trade Center'. "Turn on the TV!" he shouted.
At that time we had a television that sat on a shelf above the reception desk, where I was sitting. I grabbed the remote, turned it on, and that was when life on this planet changed in a terrible way. I watched it all unfold. Nobody got much work done that day. It was bad enough to watch the planes hitting the buildings...all that smoke, people falling to their deaths on the street below. But when the buildings actually collapsed, like a scene out of a 'world-is-ending' disaster movie, I think I went numb.
During the period from when the planes hit to the time the buildings went down, one of the travel agents from the office next door came in and told us what she was hearing from her contacts. That 24 planes had been stolen from various airports around the USA and that many possible targets had been listed. The world was panicking, big-time. But when the Pentagon was hit, it all became far too real. I remember having a sense that a major war was probably imminent. The feeling of doom was practically overwhelming. Everyone in the office was prattling on about their various theories, adding to the sense of disbelief and fear that all were feeling.
In the days to follow there was overwhelming sadness and outpourings of grief. Everyone, it seemed, knew someone who was killed at the World Trade Center. Since I used to work in the stock brokerage industry before I got into medicine, I heard later about some former co-workers who were in New York at the time of the disaster, who narrowly missed being in the WTC at the time...one was just on his way there, having been held up by traffic...and I think someone else had been in one of the buildings but had managed to get out in time.
Later on the full effects were felt when the world had noticeably changed. My god, a passport to enter the USA from Canada?! And that was just ONE little thing that has altered. I remember when my parents were going on a trip to Europe some years ago, and they required passports, even though my mother had been born in England. No problem for her, because she had her birth certificate, but my father had no ID! He had been born in Canada at a time when birth certificates were not issued! Nobody at that time had ANY ID...it was felt it wasn't needed! (He managed to get some papers signed and witnessed so he could obtain a Canadian passport.)
Can you imagine that today? I can't help but think that if it was felt that nobody needed any ID then would the world be a better place? Personally, I cannot help but remember my childhood, which was possibly the best childhood anyone could have. Total freedom, that's what I remember. I would bang out the screen door every morning during summer vacation and run off to be with my friends. We would go exploring, riding our bikes out to the country, visiting farms and feeding the horses. We would race around with wild abandon, worrying about nothing. When I was four years old, my mother started sending me out to do little errands for her when she was pregnant. Going to the local variety store to buy popsicles during the long, hot summer. Handling money at four years of age! By the time I was six, I was a seasoned shopper.
Today, nobody sends their kids out to play. One day this summer I took Sean to the park by his school, where they have a huge playground filled with all the latest equipment. We were the only ones there. The place was empty, devoid of children playing. Another time when we tried again, in the evening after I came home from work, the playground was teeming with kids, all accompanied by their parents. Do you know how sad that is for me to see? Sean is almost nine, and I wouldn't let him go out by himself to play. Some kids from down the street had come knocking on the door last fall to ask if they could rake our leaves for cash. I said sure, and went outside with Sean, who helped them. Afterwards, he asked them to come inside and play with him. There were three of them, two girls and a boy. They said no, that their mothers had told them they were not allowed to go into anyone's house.
I was shocked. And I think that, more than anything else, has showed me just how much the world has changed. When everyone, even your neighbors, are regarded with suspicion. When everyone is looking for the 'enemy' around every corner. Paranoia runs deep.
It is profoundly sad. :(
I was at work when the first patient came through the door shortly after 9:00 AM. He was babbling about something and I couldn't catch what he was saying, although I heard 'World Trade Center'. "Turn on the TV!" he shouted.
At that time we had a television that sat on a shelf above the reception desk, where I was sitting. I grabbed the remote, turned it on, and that was when life on this planet changed in a terrible way. I watched it all unfold. Nobody got much work done that day. It was bad enough to watch the planes hitting the buildings...all that smoke, people falling to their deaths on the street below. But when the buildings actually collapsed, like a scene out of a 'world-is-ending' disaster movie, I think I went numb.
During the period from when the planes hit to the time the buildings went down, one of the travel agents from the office next door came in and told us what she was hearing from her contacts. That 24 planes had been stolen from various airports around the USA and that many possible targets had been listed. The world was panicking, big-time. But when the Pentagon was hit, it all became far too real. I remember having a sense that a major war was probably imminent. The feeling of doom was practically overwhelming. Everyone in the office was prattling on about their various theories, adding to the sense of disbelief and fear that all were feeling.
In the days to follow there was overwhelming sadness and outpourings of grief. Everyone, it seemed, knew someone who was killed at the World Trade Center. Since I used to work in the stock brokerage industry before I got into medicine, I heard later about some former co-workers who were in New York at the time of the disaster, who narrowly missed being in the WTC at the time...one was just on his way there, having been held up by traffic...and I think someone else had been in one of the buildings but had managed to get out in time.
Later on the full effects were felt when the world had noticeably changed. My god, a passport to enter the USA from Canada?! And that was just ONE little thing that has altered. I remember when my parents were going on a trip to Europe some years ago, and they required passports, even though my mother had been born in England. No problem for her, because she had her birth certificate, but my father had no ID! He had been born in Canada at a time when birth certificates were not issued! Nobody at that time had ANY ID...it was felt it wasn't needed! (He managed to get some papers signed and witnessed so he could obtain a Canadian passport.)
Can you imagine that today? I can't help but think that if it was felt that nobody needed any ID then would the world be a better place? Personally, I cannot help but remember my childhood, which was possibly the best childhood anyone could have. Total freedom, that's what I remember. I would bang out the screen door every morning during summer vacation and run off to be with my friends. We would go exploring, riding our bikes out to the country, visiting farms and feeding the horses. We would race around with wild abandon, worrying about nothing. When I was four years old, my mother started sending me out to do little errands for her when she was pregnant. Going to the local variety store to buy popsicles during the long, hot summer. Handling money at four years of age! By the time I was six, I was a seasoned shopper.
Today, nobody sends their kids out to play. One day this summer I took Sean to the park by his school, where they have a huge playground filled with all the latest equipment. We were the only ones there. The place was empty, devoid of children playing. Another time when we tried again, in the evening after I came home from work, the playground was teeming with kids, all accompanied by their parents. Do you know how sad that is for me to see? Sean is almost nine, and I wouldn't let him go out by himself to play. Some kids from down the street had come knocking on the door last fall to ask if they could rake our leaves for cash. I said sure, and went outside with Sean, who helped them. Afterwards, he asked them to come inside and play with him. There were three of them, two girls and a boy. They said no, that their mothers had told them they were not allowed to go into anyone's house.
I was shocked. And I think that, more than anything else, has showed me just how much the world has changed. When everyone, even your neighbors, are regarded with suspicion. When everyone is looking for the 'enemy' around every corner. Paranoia runs deep.
It is profoundly sad. :(
