Six days after my 26th birthday, and precisely 10 years ago tomorrow, Mom awoke me at 8:49 a.m. and suggested I turn on the TV. She said an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center.
My ears perked. I turned down the prospect of sleeping to watch CNN.
I don’t need to tell you my eyes were glued to that TV the rest of the morning. I channel surfed to gain different camera angles and unedited commentaries. I was addicted.
As the FBI investigated leads across the country, I remembered visiting those cities during a 24,000-mile roadtrip that ended a week earlier. Las Vegas, Phoenix, Sacramento, Boston. When the feds thought terrorists boarded a ferry from Nova Scotia to Maine a week before 9/11, I shuddered that they could have been on my ferry!
People bought American flags and patriotism ran amok.
I repeated the beginning of that viewing experience last week when I stumbled onto the 9/11 Television News Archive.
The internet archive at that link contains 3,000 hours of domestic and international news coverage from 20 channels over the seven days beginning on September 11, 2001. It launched last month. It’s surreal.
Before I changed my mind to give in and write something about 9/11, I planned to share with you a video about a cardboard box.
That didn’t seem proper at first. But, 9/11 also is about the tenderness of life and the dreams we share.
Maybe the video is what we need to watch to reflect about our fragility.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
9/11 is really a tragic event. When I saw it on CNN, it really shocked me and I thought God should save the souls of the victims of the tragedy. And I hope that the family of the victims would ease their pains of losing their loved ones. Maybe I should check the cardboard video to reflect more on this tragic event.
Hi, Ari.
The 9/11 event did not just change the world of the American people, but of everyone across the globe. Even us here from down under felt the effects of that event.
It’s a good thing that you detoured from what’s common and gave us the cardboard box adventures instead. It lets us reflect more about life and its importance more.
that video is nice. it does bring up some sad emotions for me.
Even though it happened so long ago I think it will never be wiped from peoples hearts. A few months ago my uncle died as a result from 9/11 he developed mesophiloma cancer and died within two weeks after being diagnosed with it. He was apart of the health department investigating surrounding buildings as well as wreckage of the world trade center.
Truly a shocking day in the history of America