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#515 | Tuesday, December 18th 2001
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My name is Michele Wurzer. I live in the Pacific Northwest, near Seattle, WA. On Sept. 11, 2001 I was taking my morning shower when my youngest son, Chad (15 years old), knocked on the bathroom door, with a message that I had a phone call from my oldest sister Kathy telling me to, "Quick, turn on the TV!". I jumped out of the shower, pulled on my robe, ran to the living room, and saw for myself the horrors of 9-11 in action, on my local news. And I was forever changed.
I literally felt the pain and loss that day; just as people all over the world did. The souls of those loved ones in Washington D.C., New York City, and Pennsylvania swept across our nation that hour; like a mighty wind across our land.
My brother-in-law, who lives near Sacramento, CA called me on the phone that day, and said that a fierce wind had swept through his area at the exact moment the towers fell. He said it was stronger than any Santa Ana wind he had ever experienced, in his lifetime of living in California. He also said it carried with it a feeling of loss and deep sadness. Or so that's the impression he got, when it blew over his area.
About seven hours later, while I was outside my home trying to find solace for my pain, amidst the flowers in my garden, an extremely strong wind sweep across my own hometown, north of Seattle, Washington, over 900 miles away from Sacramento. I am 100% convinced it was the same wind my brother-in-law felt, and told me about earlier that morning; as I too felt a deep sense of pain, grief and loss being carried along in the wind.
It was eerie...the whole experience. Like souls sweeping by. Thousands of them; all at the same time.
I know it sounds far fetched, but it's true. I have never felt anything like that in my entire life, nor do I ever hope to again. A loss so great...so hard to understand, consider, or even have to bear. My heart still grieves, and angers over that day. And I shall never, ever allow myself to forget.
I am only 40 years old, so don't have the personal history some do, of the same type of horrors at Pearl Harbor, that cold December morning, 60 years ago. But there are thousands of other Americans still living, who will never, ever forget that day in American history either; as long as they have breath in their souls to remember.
I am saddened, and yes, angered that I, as well as my children, and our current generation of Americans, now have our own "America Remembers..." moment in time, just like those veterans of WWII always will. :'o(
As the surviving friends and family members of the victims lost Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washington D.C. and a grassy field in Pennsylvania, approach thier first Christmas and New Year's without those sorely missed loved ones, I pray that somehow they may be able to discover renewed hope in their hearts, minds, and souls for a better, brighter, and fulfilling future for themselves and their children. And may they also find the strength and courage to reach out in love, and be able to trust once again.
God's peace to one and all this holiday season of 2001.
Michele Wurzer -
Everett, Washington; U.S.A.
Dec. 18, 2001
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Michele | 40 | Washington
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#493 | Tuesday, December 18th 2001
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I remember that day like it was yesterday! It was early in the morning, I had just arrived to get my hair cut, when I heard about the first air plane hit the first tower and I thought to myself wow that can not be happening, then just a few minutes after that it happened again to the other World Trade Tower and thats when I knew something was not right. All I could think about then was I wanted to be home with my family. I could not believe what had happened!
When I was going home I had heard that all plane's where grounded, But I could remember seeing a plane make a big circle in the sky to turn around to go back to the Grater Cincinnati Air port to land. Then we heard that another plane had hit the Pentagon and another had been forced down to the ground in Chicago by passengers who we later found out help save another building from getting hit. The day seemed like a big movie! We just could not believe it was going on. But it has changed the USA in many ways. I know where I work, at a bank the rates on Mortgages and Savings and Checking accounts went way down. A lot of people where let go at their job's because what had happened. But as a whole, I know in my heart that we don't take for granted for what we have now, because you just never know what might happen.
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Victoria | 40 | Ohio
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#440 | Monday, December 10th 2001
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Like a lot of people, I was at work. A collegue of mine had asked me to look at his computer because he thought the internet was down. I asked what website he was having trouble with and he said all the newsmedia ones. We kept trying until we finally got through to one and found out what happened. We sat in dumbfounded silence as we read reports and viewed video on what was going on. I had trouble believing all the information I was receiving from other staff, the radio and the internet. It wasn't until I got home later that evening to watch the day's news summary that reality set in.
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Dieter | 40 | Canada
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#424 | Monday, December 10th 2001
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Stockholm, Sweden - September 11, 2001, 3:15 PM local time.
I had left work early and was almost at my house when the cell phone rang, it was my wife.
"There's an aircraft hitting the WTC in New York and rumors about another one hitting Pentagon!"
"Really? Someone has been reading Tom Clancy!" I observed half jokingly, not yet realizing the scope of the disaster.
Minutes later I stepped through the front door, dropped down in the coach in front of CNN and was engulfed with confusion. Taped images of the second aircraft slamming into the South Tower was mixed with a live feed showing the burning South Tower but the images didn't add up. Moments later I realized that the North Tower was gone! Seconds later I watch what I first believed was a taped footage of the North Tower collapsing but in fact was the South Tower going down live! On top of this we got to see live footage from a burning Pentagon and reports of a supposedly highjacked airliner going down that probably was meant for the Congress or the White House.
It was then it really struck me that the free world was at war and for the first time the USA have been suffering a devastating blow on it's mainland, only the attack on Pearl Harbor matching the disaster. We were at war but this was a new kind of war, without soldiers, where civilians are as good a target as a tank, destroyer or fighter aircraft. The impact kept me nailed in front of the TV for the rest of the day and long into the evening. When I went to bed that night, the world the sun set on was not the same world at had dawned upon earlier the same morning.
The next day the topic at work, at home, at schools, everywhere in the society was easily predicted and unfortunately so also the domestic news. So called experts sat in the studios and went along in lines of "America had this coming with it's Middle East Politics." Thus blaming America for what happened!
America was attacked because it's both a powerful country and an open society. America is the most powerful nation in the world and is ruled through Freedom, Democracy, Justice, Equality and Free Speech. Those five occurrences are the ones must feared but dictatorships that suppress its people. Ghandi once said, "what is obtained by violence can only been kept by violence." The consequences of this is that the rulers of those countries will lose their powers once the violence stops and that is what they fear most of all, even more than an outright war against the most powerful nation in the world.
The US had to both tighten its internal security and strike back at the terrorist organization and the regime that supported it. Most of the free world stood behind America in this. Now, three months later, it seems that the military operation in Afghanistan is a success, mostly because the people of Afghanistan is free again, free to elect how and by whom they will be ruled, free to shave, show their faces, speak up, watch CNN…
What would the Talibans have felt if they had the opportunity to see the heroes of the policemen and firefighters rescuing thousands of people, helping them out of the burning buildings only to be killed minutes later when the towers collapsed? Wouldn't it have told them something about the people they had just attacked? That the American people are worthy as your friend and fearsome as your enemy, that what they just did was both unjust and foolish? We will never know but in closed society, they couldn't know! The only thing they knew, was what their Mulla told them. It has nothing to do with Religion or Islam, only the way the country is ruled.
The war continues and it will be fought not just with guns but also with education, international aid, medicine, food, shelters, rebuilding projects, etc. The money we so willingly spend on military operations must also be spent on building up the life for the people who have lived and suffered under the dictatorship of unjust rulers. There's no "us" and no "them", people are the same all over the world, what makes us different are the conditions under which we live. Change them and the community of the free world will continue to grow, hopefully it will one day include the entire world.
Only then will we see true, worldwide peace.
Christer Sjöholm
Stockholm, Sweden
December 10, 2001
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Christer | 40 | Sweden
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#396 | Saturday, December 8th 2001
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My lover woke me up on his way to work.
"There's been an attack on the World Trade Center," he said, "and a plane has crashed into the Pentagon."
I was sleepy, but took it all in immediately.
"If anything happens, " I said, squeezing his hand, "we meet back here."
"We meet here," he confirmed, and then we kissed, said we loved each other, and he was off to work.
Tears would come later, but our quietness that morning, our ability to take the blow and focus on the a practical plan, reminded me that after 13 years, I am still with the right man.
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M.C. | 40 | California
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