The Day That Changed The World

I was sitting in my office waiting on a teleconference call. There were three of us to talk but only two had joined so far. I just started with the company only a few months ago. I was eager to show them my skills. I had just gone through months of unemployment and I knew I was lucky to have a job I liked.

When you are sitting there waiting to start a teleconference, you start to engage in small talk. The woman waiting on the call with me said, 'Did you hear a plane crashed into the World Trade Center?' Thinking that it was a just a small plane, I said, 'No, that's too bad' and continued to wait for the other to join the call. Neither one of us, at the moment, understood how the world's day was unfolding.

The third person got on the call. 'Did you hear about the World Trade Center?' 'Yes,' I replied, 'a plane hit it.' 'No', he said, 'two planes hit them!' What? We immediately ended the call to try to find out more.

Someone came in my office afterwards. 'Did you hear a plane hit the Pentagon?' 'No', I said, 'it was the World Trade Center'. 'A plane hit the World Trade Center, too?!!' None of it made sense. What was going on? We turned on the television and saw visions of the World Trade Center going up in smoke. The person next to me said, 'My God, my parents were going to go up to the skydeck there this afternoon.'

I called my wife. She worked near Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Speculation was that would be one of the targets. I told her to get out but she said she couldn't as they were closing public transportation down. Someone came into my office. 'A plane just crashed near Pittsburgh!' Pittsburgh? Why Pittsburgh? Rumors were swirling that they were going to hit major cities in the US in different time zones when people were starting their day. We were all stunned. We couldn't stop watching the coverage on television. We thought we were watching a movie as we saw the World Trade Center crumble. It can't be? How was this possible?

It wasn't until days later did we find out what happened near Pittsburgh. I worried as I have family out there. You began to hear the stories about United Flight 93. The cell phone calls made during the flight. The people in the plane finding out what happened in Manhattan. The calls to say good-bye to loved ones as they became aware of their fate. And, how the passengers took on the terrorists themselves with the words, 'Let's Roll!'. How many lives did they save that day with their brave act? How many of us could have done that without freezing in our tracks?

When I went out to my uncle's funeral, about a month ago, I stopped by the Flight 93 memorial to pay my respects. Below are some pictures I took while I was there. It is already a national park site. There is a temporary memorial until the permanent one can be built. (Here is a link to find out more about the park and how to donate to build a more permanent memorial. http://www.nps.gov/flni.) When I spoke with the park ranger there, he said the memorial will be similar to the Vietnam memorial in Washington DC. There will be a path, to the memorial, which was the original flight path leading up to the crash. (Please don't listen to the people that talk about how the crescent shape is a symbol of Islam. If you ever visited the area, it would never occur to you. It is only certain people stirring up something that's not there.) They hope to have the first phase completed in time to dedicate it in September, 2011, the 10th anniversary of the event.

The best way to describe the area around the park is, if you ever visited a Civil War battlefield, it has the same feel. There are only a few houses surrounding the area. The crash site is in the middle of a field surrounded by rolling hills. You can't believe it crashed at the spot that it did. How was it possible that it crashed at such a remote site? And the countless lives that were saved because of it?

Running in Bucks County, you will see park benches and small memorials dedicated to people who lost their lives that day. You see, Bucks County, PA is close enough to New York City to commute. When I run past a memorial that I hadn't seen before, I stop and think about the events that day. And, yet, I find it hard to watch movies about September 11th. My wife has seen the movie Flight 93 but I can't. I don't want to relive that day. And, yet, I want to honor the people that lost their lives. I will never forget.


(The pictures below are of the temporary memorial and the field of the crash. The dot in the middle of the field is an American flag where the crash occurred.)