The day when the planes hit the towers
By Stephan Drew
“Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
weakened by my soulful cries?
You may write me down in history with your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt but still, like dust, I’ll rise….”
— Maya Angelou (selected verses from her “Still, I Rise”)
In everyone’s life, there are certain moments that are burned into our memory. Sept. 11, 2001, is such a moment. If you’re nearing 30 or older, you probably have a clear recollection of that awful event. I remember it as though it were yesterday. It was a beautiful Tuesday morning. The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky and a cool breeze was blowing. I was working as a nurse for Eastern Carolina Pediatrics in the Florence office. The phone rang and it was the husband of one of the nurses. Shortly after she answered it, we heard her scream, “Oh no!”, hang up the phone and run down the hall toward the conference room. Of course, we all followed quickly, wondering what was wrong and, when we arrived, the TV was on showing the tragedy as it played out in real time. I watched the second plane hit the South Tower and my heart felt like it dropped into my stomach. I guess I was so shocked that I couldn’t move. It all seemed like a dream. Well, more like a nightmare. How could this happen in America? Didn’t we have security and protection against such things? Up until that day, most of us just assumed that we would always be protected against outside enemies. Our country occupies a very unique geographical position. We take up a large portion of the North American continent and we have oceans on both sides. If anyone were coming here to attack us, they would have to fly over a lot of water or come through our borders. We never imagined that someone would use our own airplanes against us. Of course, our intelligence agencies had intercepted suspicious chatter about “using airplanes as bombs” but they receive thousands of threats daily. There is no possible way to do a thorough investigation into each and every one of them. This, unfortunately, was one that slipped through the cracks. Understandable but still devastating. Shortly after the World Trade Center towers were attacked, the Pentagon was hit and Flight 93 went down (when courageous passengers overtook the hijackers) in Shanksville, Pa. We didn’t know what would be hit next or what we would do when it happened. We heard the news anchors tell us Al Qaeda was issuing statements that they would attack us “in the malls, churches, schools and playgrounds.” After we recovered from the initial shock of the attack, a deep sense of fear began to set in. What about the children? What should we do? I immediately thought about my niece and nephews. My mother kept David, Daniel and Lauren while my brother and sister-in-law were working but they were at school until 2 when she arrived to collect them. Since Tuesday was my half-day at work, I called her and asked if she wanted me to pick them up on my way home. She agreed that would probably be best. I can’t tell you whether I obeyed all the traffic lights on my way down Highway 52 that mid-day. My only thought was to get to those kids and get them safely back to the house as soon as possible. When I got to their school, I realized I wasn’t on the approved “pickup” list but it didn’t matter to me. I didn’t care if the governor of S.C. and all of his security team tried to block my way, I was not leaving that school without those children! After a quick “discussion” with the lady in the office, she called all three to come down and we left. On the drive home, I couldn’t even listen to the radio. Maybe if I pretended that it didn’t happen, I could keep from upsetting them. Since I had never picked them up from school before, they kept asking what was wrong. I assured them they hadn’t done anything wrong, no one was mad and I told them we would talk about it with “Nanny” (my mother) when we got home. When we arrived, Mom had a nice lunch prepared and we sat in half-silence wondering what to say. After we finished eating, we told them, “Today, our country was attacked by some very bad people.” We did our best to explain what we could in ways their little minds might understand, without creating too much fear in them. Then, we let them go outside to play so they would be away from the television and its visions of horror. We got through that day, the next one and the days that followed, becoming a little less numb as we went along. The loss of life on 9/11 was estimated at over 3,000, nearly 600 more than were killed at Pearl Harbor. Anger quickly set in all around the country. “Revenge!” and “Justice!” were words we heard everywhere. Flags were on everything from sunglasses and underwear to hair dye and automobiles. I think I bought at least 30 American flags to put on my car because everyone I met seemed to want one and supplies were short everywhere. Over the course of a few weeks, we slowly began to feel a little less afraid. We declared a “War on Terror” and sent our military into Afghanistan to destroy both Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network. Over the next 20 years, we achieved those two main goals but it didn’t stop terror and, maybe nothing ever will. It has been a long and momentous 20 years since that fateful day. We are still dealing with the aftermath of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the tenuous state of affairs we and the rest of the world now have to face. The Afghans now have an additional $83 billion in U.S. military armaments and equipment. Not to mention 20 years of military training and a few newly-built U.S. military bases that we gave them the keys to as we left. I’m not sure what the world will look like in the years to come. But I know one thing. America has faced great dangers before and come out on top. We work hard, we sacrifice and we suffer greatly to achieve our goals. We do not cower. We do not beg or apologize for who we are. We would rather die on our feet than live on our knees. And that spirit was shown in the numerous brave men and women who died on 9/11. The police, firefighters and other first responders who ran into those burning buildings to help save the lives of others with total disregard for their own. That is who we are and what we do. Our character is what defines us. We are a strong nation and we are a proud nation. We have our faults and they are numerous. But there is one rare and unique quality that lives in the heart and soul of every American … our independent spirit. You might hit us, kick us, or you may even knock us down … for a while. But you’ll never KEEP us down, no matter what you do. We are the children of nobles, immigrants and slaves. Our ancestors reached this blessed land from all parts of the globe and all stations in life. We do not care where someone came from. Your father and mother may have been a king, queen or even a slave. It doesn’t matter in America. We value only your integrity, honesty and tenacity. Here, you may achieve whatever you have the strength, skill and endurance to work for. As Americans, we know exactly how fortunate we are. We have more opportunities and advantages than anyone else in the world and we are usually the first to help whenever someone is in trouble. Yes, we are very proud people, often loud and boisterous. We are fiercely independent and we don’t like taking advice. Over the course of our history, we have stumbled several times because of this pride. But we chart our own path, work for what we want and we never give up. We have seen times of suffering and great sacrifice before and, through our perseverance, we always survive. We may fall but we always rise. We will rise again now. It’s just part of our nature as Americans. As you reflect back upon that horrible attack, remember those who fell that tragic day. Pray for their families and keep them in your heart. Gather those you love to your side. Share a meal, hug them, talk to them and remind them how lucky we all are to be living in such a blessed nation. This is the land of opportunity and freedom for all. Let’s keep it that way. It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice but we’ve done it before. We can do it again.
