Many of us are taking some time to remember the events of 9/11 that occurred ten years ago. As usual, the conversation usually begins with a retelling of where we were on that day.
I was working with three coworkers in Antwerp, Belgium on a month-long assignment. Therefore, my experience on 9/11 began in the late afternoon due to the six hour time difference. The first reports started with casual comments about a plane hitting the tower. I halfway blew it off, thinking it was a little Cessna or something along those lines. Then e-mails from our home office began coming in and shortly the servers were overloaded.
There was a television in a central area, and the resident staff turned it on, but of course it wasn’t in English. As the only Americans in the office, the staff did what they could to get information to us, which eventually led to one of the ladies on the phone with her brother who was holding the receiver up to the television to the CNN report in English.
Like almost everyone in the country, I knew of at least one person I was concerned about. Last I knew, my friend Mary Jane worked somewhere in the vacinity of the twin towers. Try as I might, I couldn’t get a hold of her and was really worried. Eventually after all the initial confusion, I did hear from her and she was fine.
After work we went to an apartment of two Canadian co-workers who were there on a longer assignment. We weren’t up for the typical multi-course and four hour extravaganza which was dinner in Belgium, so we ordered pizza and watched CNN.
We were supposed to return to the US in a few days, but with the chaos of the airlines and our company’s travel ban we were in Belgium for another week. It was a bit of a tense return with the increased security, particularly at Schipol in Amsterdam which was already more rigorous than most.
I ran the Chicago marathon on 10/7/01, and within miles of the finish another runner was listening to the radio on headphones and announced to those around him that the war in Afghanistan had begun. Shouts and whoops went around and we knew the news before many of the friends and family there to watch the race. So I have another memory of that day ingrained in my memory.
Ten years later and I don’t think there’s any danger that we’ll forget. May we continue to lean on each other to heal and grow stronger. Let’s continue to honor those who lost their lives and I hope that our children will know the stories and learn the lessons from this day as well.
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