Remembering September 11, 2001

10 Sep 2011 1 Comment

by Andrea in Uncategorized Tags: 9/11, American Red Cross, Christians, muslim, sept. 11, september 11 2001, Wichita Kansas

I can’t believe it’s been 10 years. 10 years ago tomorrow I sat in utter disbelief as the news footage of a plane hitting the World Trade Center played on the television at work. I shook in fear when I listened to a live news report from the Pentagon and heard the plane hit that building. When the towers fell, I somehow thought at first that everyone had made it out. It would be okay. But it wasn’t.

Working at the Wichita chapter of the American Red Cross during the September 11 attacks gave me a sense of purpose after such horrible violence. We jumped into action at the airport, gathering weary, frightened passengers who were stranded in our city by grounded planes and taking them to hotels across the town.  Our volunteers lined up to be sent to New York when air restrictions were lifted. People flooded the blood center downstairs eager to do something to help out their fellow man. Everyone was touched. Everyone was affected.

I stayed at work until the President finished his address to the nation. For some reason, I just had to stay there. I had to be with these people who had shared this traumatic experience with me.  At the end of the day I was exhausted, nauseous and anxious. Being outside was eerie. The Air Capital was silent. No planes flew overhead. Everyone was quiet. Reverent.

When I got home, I hugged my family tighter than ever before. Joe was just a baby. Nine months old. He had no idea what was happening and I was glad. I didn’t want to have to try to explain the unexplainable. Early the next morning, probably around 2 a.m. I woke up because I heard planes flying overhead. I started crying and shaking and woke Kolin up, “I hear PLANES!” I said. He sat up, listened and said, “It’s okay sweetie. They’re military planes. From the base. It’s okay.” And then he held me as I cried some more and tried to calm down.

The next days and months are a blur. I remember bits and pieces. There was an unprecedented amount of flag-waving. People were signing up to join the military in droves. Americans were unified in their anger and horror. We remembered to be kind to one another. We remembered to love our families and spend time with them. But there was a sense that anyone who looked different could be a terrorist. My dear friend, who has sons who are brown with Middle-Eastern heritage put in a frantic call to her son at KU to tell him to stay inside. Don’t go out. He did anyway and got himself a clean-cut “All-American” haircut so his long hair and beard combined with his brown skin wouldn’t make him a target. I remember thinking that the terror attacks, while bringing out some of the best in us, also unleashed some of the worst.

America has changed since September 11, 2001. We have more hoops to jump through while traveling and we love to complain about it. We’ve been engaged in two wars for a decade now. We tense up when someone who is brown or Muslim or “Muslim-looking” gets on a plane with us. We report suspicious packages with greater ease.  Our economy, especially in a town known for its commercial aircraft building, tanked, leaving many in our city without jobs.

We came together only for a moment until we remembered that we are Democrat or Republican or white or brown or Christian or Muslim or atheist. Gone is the sense of cooperation, service to the community and compassion for our fellow Americans that permeated our nation after the attacks. I think perhaps the greatest tribute we as Americans could offer this September 11 would be to recapture the compassion and cooperation and service we felt in those early days but let’s extend it past 9/11. Let’s make civil discourse and love for our fellow human an everyday thing. Let’s change our lifestyles to offer more love and less judgement. Let’s pray for our nation and for other nations. Pray for our leaders, especially if you don’t like them. Let’s remember that we’re in this life together and honor the victims of the attacks that way and not just by flying a flag tomorrow.

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