9/11/01

God Bless indeed. I remember the day like it was yesterday…and I also remember how sports brought this country, and this city together. The Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics, and Mike Piazza’s epic home run, brought us all together as Americans. It’s only fitting that the NFL opening weekend falls on September 11. When those JETS fly over the stadiums today, we will remember those that were lost, honor those that saved lives, and celebrate the greatest country in the world. Always remember. Let’s go Jets.

i think this is the best thing you have ever writen, in my opinion. couldn’t rec this enough

Agree 100%

im speechless

Never forget 9/11

Rest in peace, all of those who were brave and risked their lives on that day. God bless the families that lost their loved ones. My prayers will be with them today and during the game.

I was in 4th grade when it happened. Crazy. It is of the upmost importance that we understand why such an awful event took place, and that we never forget those who were lost on that horrible, horrible day.

I had never actually seen that Jimmy V speech, awesome, inspiring stuff. Thank you sir.

Awesome job. You write a lot of great articles, but this is easily the best.

Following are my memories of that fateful day.

I lived in NYC at the time and was practically there at ground zero right after it happened. I worked on Wall Street. I was running late to work that day, but when the subway pulled into the Wall Street Station, I immediately knew something was very wrong. Something palpable was in the air. I was used to seeing people running to catch trains, but this time something was different. There was a panicked look on their faces. I asked someone what was going on, and he said, “Planes have crashed into both towers and they think it’s terrorists.” I walked up the steps, out onto the street and turned around. There were the huge gaping holes in the towers billowing fire and smoke. Papers were swirling in the air. People in both towers and in the other office buildings were looking out the windows. Thousands of people were on the street just gawking in stunned disbelief.

I walked on the 2 blocks to work. It was NYC and Wall Street, after all, and I thought work would go on. First, I called my parents in NC to let them know I was safe and ok. I checked my email and replied to several messages, then checked my voice mail, and returned a few calls. I saw that no one else was working. Our office was on the 14th floor, but faced the East River, Queens and Brooklyn, so we couldn’t see what was going on. Everyone was gathered around radios and TVs following what was going on. When the towers fell, there was so much tan-colored dust that we couldn’t see anything out of the windows. I later learned that one of my good friends was caught outside when the towers fell. He said he saw the dust cloud coming towards him and knew he was going to die. He thought there would be toxic fumes and he would be suffocated and/or poisoned. Thankfully, he wasn’t.

Sometime around 11:30, I think, Mayor Giuliani told everyone south of Canal Street to evacuate. We walked up the FDR. I lived in Park Slope and walked the 3 miles home. Some of my friends were System Admins and they had to stay at work. They slept there for days and food was brought in.

I was blessed. I don’t know that I knew anyone who perished, even though I had worked in one of the towers for a few months (doing consulting work) a few years before, and worked in the World Financial Center for 9 months two years before. Lots of people at work knew people who died, and some lost family members. My manager was in a meeting on another floor and the conference room faced the towers. She saw people jumping and said she’d never forget it. I had a niece living in downtown Manhattan ( I forget which neighborhood). They were locked down for a couple of days. No one could leave and I couldn’t get in to be with her. She was terrified. Finally, I was able to go to see her by that weekend.

I’ll never forget the aftermath with Wall Street being closed the rest of the week, with national guard troops with machine guns on almost every street corner, south of Canal St. being closed to vehicular traffic for several weeks, the smoking ruins at ground zero, the posters everywhere asking if we had seen their loved ones, and the tractor trailers (generators) parked on sidewalks with cables bigger around than your arm running into buildings to supply power. There was a layer of that dust on everything until the city brought in crews to steam clean the buildings and streets. The personality of the city changed for about a month and people were “gentler” and more civil. I tried to volunteer at a number of places and couldn’t because they were overwhelmed with people volunteering. Church attendance swelled. It was an amazing time to be in NYC. Stories came to the fore of the bravery and selflessness of the first responders. There were heartbreaking stories of people who died and amazing stories of people who should have been there but weren’t for some minor reason.

May God Bless those who lost loved ones, those who risked their lives and health to help others and to clean up the site, and all those who still struggle with sorrow, fear or anxiety because of that day.

I gotta say without being totally cheesy but I got all choked up reading this. Especially with the lines:

 “Enjoy life. Do not put plans off. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. If you don’t like your job, find something you will enjoy. If you regret not finishing college, start taking classes. If you think somebody in your life is special, tell them. Maybe things won’t work out, but don’t leave yourself wondering what your life would have been like if you just had made that big move.”

This one really hit home. In fact I actually made that decision a month ago. I am still out here in Idaho and have been away from NY/NJ for 14 years and have been wanting to move back ever since I left and after just going through a divorce 7 months ago I finally for the first time in my life have nothing holding me back and am planning on moving to NJ. I am planning on leaving Idaho on Nov. 1. And my plan was to simply… go back to school. My planets are aligning so far by taking this chance. I won’t have a job and I’m leaving a wonderful company in Hewlett Packard that I’ve worked for for the last 10 years but I have to do it. I just need the change and if I don’t take it now… I never will and I’ll never know. I’m taking the plunge with little money and little direction all I know is I have a plan and to the best of my ability I am going to fulfill it. And already I have hooked up with a high school sweetheart and we’re going to get together when I move back. I’m super Excited. You couldn’t be more right with that phrase John.

As for 9/11 I was in Arizona at the time working for America Online. And I remember getting woken up with a phone call to turn on the TV. I was just speechless. I got another call from work saying to stay home because we were on alert (living near a nuclear silo) I tried to make phone calls to my family but all the lines were busy. I couldn’t get in touch with family and started to panic. A little while later my mom finally called to tell me that the family was in an uproar… my Uncle Adam worked in the towers and no one had heard from him.

The day got progressively worse. Work called and was asking for volunteers to come in but it wasn’t mandatory. I decided to go in to try to hold a little state of normality. I received a few phone calls throughout the morning. My Uncle Adam contacted my Uncle Donald in Florida and told him he was ok and he was out (from the 82nd floor T2) and he had just run into some high school buddies who were fire fighters and he was helping them get people out. My Uncle Adam Arias who got out actually went back in with the fire fighting crew to rescue other people and the tower collapsed. Killing them all.

My Uncle Donald was an Air Force special Ops commander out of Florida and had gotten a call to take down any planes off course heading to the US. He was on his way to take down the flight over PA. (from what i understand).

My dad who just lost his baby brother was completely distraught. He runs an engineering company in NJ and was nearly shut down for a month because he took all his work trucks and cranes and used them to help clear the towers.

I did fly towards the end of September to vist with family. It was very intense. They listed my Uncle as a “hero” and whatnot and even renamed the street in Staten Island that he grew up on that my grandparents still live on Adam Arias Way.

It’s a rough day and I remember afterwards the patriotism that I saw all the way in Arizona… SO many flags and “never forget” stickers and shirts and just.. everything that pulled the nation together it was such a nice feeling. What was really sad was how it drifted away. I wish the country was like that all time without a national tragedy to bring the patriotism out like that. We need it all the time.

Anyways.. I rambled… but God Bless this country and everyone one in it. Thank you John for the post. And if I can urge everyone who read this article to re-read the part about “Enjoy life”. After all.. isn’t this what it’s all about? If you’re not enjoying life… take the damn plunge and change it. The best time to do it… is now!

Anyways.. I rambled… but God Bless this country and everyone one in it. Thank you John for the post. And if I can urge everyone who read this article to re-read the part about “Enjoy life”. After all.. isn’t this what it’s all about? If you’re not enjoying life… take the damn plunge and change it. The best time to do it… is now!Thanks for letting me rant. lol.. Go Jets! – The real America’s Team!