911: Memories and Remembrances 10 Years Later

On September 11, 2001 terrorists attacked our homeland. The attacks on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon and in Shanksville, PA changed us, angered us, upset us, touched all of us in one way or another. As the 10 year anniversary approaches I wanted to get the thoughts and feelings of some of our Yahoo!CN writers.

I asked the following questions:

Where were you, and what were you doing, when you heard that the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center?

What do you plan to do on September 11, 2011 to honor the memory of those who died and those injured that day in New York, Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon?

How has your life changed in the last 10 years because of those events?

Here are their unedited answers in their own words. Thank you all for sharing and remembering. We must never forget what happened that day. God rest their souls.

Michele Starkey

My sister and I owned a small business in Pine Bush, NY and our mother called to tell us about a plane crash. Minutes later, she phoned again to say, "We're under attack." Pine Bush is the furthest point north that you can live in NY and still work as a firefighter/EMS/police officer and commute to NYC. Many of our customers had husbands, children or family members who were involved in 911. We kept our business open as a meeting place to comfort and pray for those who were directly affected. In the end, one of our members lost her husband and another lost her brother.

Quietly and simply just pray for peace. In the words of my father reflecting on 911, "After Pearl Harbor, I never thought I'd live to see the day when America would be attacked on our shores again."

We have a dear friend who was a firefighter involved in the 911 cleanup. He is still struggling with health issues. It's a constant reminder with every medical check-up, every new lump or nodule that appears, that 911 is still devastating lives for those who served. This isn't just a one-day or one-moment event and the aftershocks are lingering in the lives of those who were there that day.

Kathy Minicozzi

On 9/11/2001 I was living in Brooklyn, New York and working in Manhattan. At the time I heard of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, I was on the street in my neighborhood, on the way to take the subway. All I heard was that something had hit one of the towers. I had no idea of the seriousness of what had happened, so I continued on my way. At the last stop in Brooklyn, just across the East River from the southern tip of Manhattan, our train was stopped and we all had to get off. Because no trains were crossing into Manhattan, there were big crowds of people standing and walking around and waiting for busses to try to get back home. I was nowhere near a radio or any other news source, so whatever I heard was spotty. Because the crowds were so huge, it took me a long time to get a bus back home. When I finally did get on a bus, it was completely crowded and moving very slowly through very thick traffic. It took me several hours to get back to my apartment. It was only after I got home and turned on my television that I found out that the towers had collapsed! I was shocked. I had often worked in the area of the World Trade Center, and I had even had a couple of temp jobs in the towers themselves. It was hard to grasp the idea that 3,000 people had been killed and that the buildings were no longer there. Some of my co-workers in midtown Manhattan had already been at work when the towers had collapsed and had seen it happen. Fortunately for me, I wasn't among them. That sight would have been too terrible. For many years after that I could not bring myself to go into that area and visit Ground Zero. On the couple of occasions when I found myself in the Financial District, I avoided the site, because I couldn't deal with it. Finally, after several years, I was unemployed and I got a temp job working in a hotel right across from Ground Zero. By then I was okay with the idea of seeing the hole where the towers had been, and during those few days on the temp job I would stop at the site for some quiet prayer and thought. In the past, I have lived and traveled in troubled spots in the world, and I have never been really afraid. My life hasn't changed since 2001. I never stopped riding the subway trains and it never occurred to me to try to avoid Times Square or any other popular spot. We can't live in fear. However, I always thought of the United States as being a safe place. We can no longer be so complaisant. We now have to be vigilant, and at the same time try to avoid being hysterical. I am not sure what I will do on September 11 this year. Last year, I dedicated one of the hymns that I sing every week in church to the victims of the attacks. If I had not done that, nobody at church would have said anything. How soon people forget! --------

Sandy James
September 11, 2001 was a beautiful morning in sunny Colorado. As my husband and I got ready for work, we embraced and wished each other a happy anniversary. It was our eleventh wedding anniversary. On the kitchen table were the unopened cards we'd bought one another and some small gifts. We ate breakfast together and shared those special moments as we opened our cards and gifts. As is customary in our house, my husband turned on the news as he made his lunch while I got dressed. Seconds later, he called me to the living room and we watched the news as the first tower had been hit by a plane and the news people were in a frenzy trying to figure out what happened. Then, we saw the second tower get hit. I remember a red flag went up in my mind as I realized this wasn't an accident. We were both late for work that day as were many co-workers. The story that was unfolding was horrific and difficult to comprehend. Yes, September 11th is our anniversary and the date to two horrible events; one a natural disaster and the other a terrorist attack. These three events have touched us forever as we bitter sweetly celebrate our anniversary each year. We were married on September 11, 1990 on Kauai, the smallest island in Hawaii. We spent three glorious weeks over there and have fond memories of the island. On September 11, 1992, Hurricane Iniki blasted Kauai with a direct hit and today, it's still the worst hurricane ever recorded to hit the Hawaiian Islands. A Category 4 hurricane, Iniki destroyed buildings, flooded the coastline, and waves were recorded 20-36 ft. high. Six people died and almost 1,500 homes destroyed and 5,000 homes damaged. Hurricane Iniki struck just a few weeks after Hurricane Andrew hit the States. Hurricane Iniki is still recorded as the third most damaging hurricane in U.S. history. Then, on September 11, 2001 tragedy of a different and senseless kind happened in New York. We come from the Boston area and my husband had many business trips near the Twin Towers. He often ate lunch in one of their restaurants while in New York, and I've been there also. As we watched the second tower fall and also heard that the planes that hit the Twin Towers were from Boston, we became gravely concerned about our friends and family. We checked the names on American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 and were fortunate that no one we knew was on those flights. We do realize, however, that others were not as fortunate. Each year on September 11th, we wish each other a happy anniversary and then take a few moments to pray for those who no longer celebrate anniversaries or birthdays. We think of the survivors and pray them also. It's a bitter sweet day for us and we do our best to enjoy it while not forgetting past events.

John Myers

I was actually getting ready to go to school and my partner had been watching television when news of the first plane hit. At first, I hadn't even suspected that it was anything other than an accident. I assumed it was just a small plane that crashed into the building. It had happened before in New York.

I'm not sure yet, though I know I'll probably be in front of the television reliving the terrible moments of that day. I really haven't watched too much of it in the past ten years, but I think for this anniversary I need to see it again to be reminded of it.

Personally, life has gotten back to normal for me. Having grown up in and around the NY City area, I was profoundly affected by the events of September 11^th, 2001, and for a long, long time I felt the despair that everyone else was feeling. As they say, time heals all wounds and as the years have progressed, it is no longer at the forefront of my mind, though it's still there somewhere. In New York City, they have an ad campaign that says, "If you see something, say something," and that's just a little reminder that we do have to keep vigilant and that the possibility of another attack is always there.

Memmay Moore

When the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center, I had just moved from Boston to Tampa to be with my 3 yr.old grand daughter. Six weeks earlier I had flown alone to Tampa from Boston's Logan Airport on an American Airlines plane, the same airport and airline used by the first group of terrorists on Sept.11th.....On the morning of 911, I was at home with my little grand daughter when my son called and told me to watch the news. Horrified I watched as the planes from Boston crashed into the Twin Towers. My grand daughter turned to me and asked, Where's Superman?"

The New York and New Jersey Port Authority has donated a 13 ft. long steel beam that once helped support the south tower of the World Trade Center, to Tampa's Sheriff's Dept. It will be permanently displayed in Tampa's Hero's Plaza. I plan to view it at memorial ceremonies on Sept.11th.

Ten years after that awful day my outlook has changed. The world is a dangerous place with people trying to harm us. Life as we know it can change in an instant....and I haven't been in an airplane since.

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