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where were we on 9/11? on this anniversary of that catastrophic event i find myself trying to recall the series of incidents that shaped our history and intensely imbedded terrorism into our daily lives.
i was at work. having just finished dinner, i was walking along the lobby corrider of the hotel i managed. the widescreen television in one corner of the lobby was tuned in to CNN and it caught my attention. an apparent accident in new york. a plane crashing into one of the towers of the world trade center. minutes later it happened. another plane crashing into the other of the twin towers and everybody knew all this was not accidental anymore. as other events unfolded, i stood there with several staff members, together with millions around the world, watching in disbelief. my assistant then recalls a balikbayan client who got married at our hotel a month back. he worked at the twin towers, 68th floor. we wondered what had happened to him. i then called friends and family alerting them of the tragedy happening on live tv.
it was an incredible sight. new york city, premier city of the most powerful and most prosperous country in the world, under attack! the burning twin towers dominating that famous skyline. minutes later they collapse killing thousands of trapped victims as well as their rescuers.
a day or two later pictures of the victims are flashed on the television screen, pictures of the missing and the dead, pictures posted in the streets around new york city. my heart sank further, thinking of the pain their families must feel, thinking of the children who lost a mom or a dad. how do you tell a child that daddy is longer coming home, or that she wouldn’t see mommy again? how do you come to terms with how a loved one died? burnt in the explosions, crushed in the collapse of the towers. or were they one of the many who jumped to their deaths unable to bear the searing heat in the surroundings? these continued to flash in my head. the families, the friends, how would they cope? the pain must be unbearable.
then there were the terrorists. one by one they were identified, their pictures posted on the screen. one face struck me above all the others. square-faced, sinister eyes, scary. he was one of the leaders of the group. i don’t recall his name. all i remember are those eyes staring blankly at me. questions again filled my head, and my heart. why? what kind of misguided ideology would push someone to murder innocent human beings? this i could not, and still cannot, understand.
the world was never the same since then. this single event further divided our already factious world. this single event brought forth wars, more bombings and terrorist attacks, security checks at airports, racism, paranoia. though we knew about terrorism before this incident, 9/11 opened our eyes to the extent of terror, damage, carnage and pain some radicals are capable of in the name of political and religious beliefs.
it has been several years (6?) since 9/11. but the pain and the questions continue. we will not forget. we should not forget.
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