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#2072 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
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Sept. 11, 2001 I was in St. Paul, Minn.
I woke up late, and was late getting to work. I was taking it easy that day, kind of feeling depressed about some events in my life. Usually, i got up at 7 and turned on NPR, but that morning, no radio. When i was half-way to work, i turned on a local music station, thinking maybe some tunes would lift my spirits. But there were no tunes. Just some strange talk about planes hitting buildings. I thought "This must be one of those wacked extreme radio... wait a minute, this is for real!!!" I was stunned beyond belief. I parked my car in the parking lot and sat there for a half-hour, listening to the accounts of events. Finally, i went into the office and called my usual coffee-buddy. We went down to the cafeteria and watched the TV there, with about 50 other people who couldn't bear to sit at their desks. We saw the towers collapse, live.
I spent the whole day checking on the news. I didn't do any work for about 3 days. I couldn't. I couldn't put on any makeup or even look in the mirror. Nothing i was so concerned about was even important anymore. I prayed with my friends, lit a lot of candles, and cried for many days.
A year later, my life has changed a lot. I moved to another country, where every day i mentally compare the pros and cons of the USA vs. other countries. I think i have changed, in that i have this idea in the back of my mind that life is fragile, and that the stupid things i'm concerned about today are really not that important in light of the fact that lives can be altered in a matter of minutes, anyday, anywhere.
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Rachel | 27 | Italy
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#2061 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
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14.45 in Italy, i was in my office and worked..............i tried to understand what was it happening thruoght internet, i didn't believe what my eyes did see..........all was so absurd, at today i am not able to to understand the reasons of all this..............
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massimo | 30 | Italy
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#2043 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
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I shall never forget September 11th . I was intent on getting back to work after my lunchbreak , when an SMS message from abroad on my cellphone alerted me : " Plane crashed into World Trade Center, New York. Watch CNN " . Just as I tuned in onto the world's largest news network , I was in time to see the airframe of American Airlines flight 175 disappear into the South Tower's interior , and I realised that what millions of people were watching all around the world was not caused by some fatal accident but actually by a well devised terrorist plan , hellbent in massacreing thousands of defenseless civilians in less than two hours . It was the start of one of humanity's darkest days since the Cuban missile crises. Whilst another two flying aircraft-bombs crashed into the Pentagon and into the fields of Shanksville , Pittsburgh ( Pennsylvania ) the defense and anti-terrorism establishments all over the world went into action to prevent new catastrophic attacks: if "the big American Giant" had been struck so hard, it was very clear that no nation in the world could - in those hours - call itself a safe haven . I felt a feeling of diarmed impotence as I witnessed bewildered the images on TV , realising that those " dots " which I saw falling from the WTC weren 't debris but desperate human beings , seeking salvation in that leap of a couple of hundred metres from the flames inside the building . From the other end of the earth , I was seeing these persons dieing , and all I could do was to pray that the rescuers could at least save as many lives as possible . The thought never crossed my mind that two such large steel and concrete giants would not have remain erect , I simply couldn 't think it possible . I was numbed frozen stiff when I saw the first tower crumble , and then the second . My thoughts went to those still inside the buildings , to their rescuers , and to those who had left their homes that clear morning - having said their goodbyes to their loved ones ( or even without having had the chance to do so either ) - who suddenly disappeared in that dust cloud , never returning home . All these folks projects , hopes and dreams were shattered in a few minutes by an act of decided violence . After the shock and the sadness , there comes the anger , the hate . I prayed that the same rage and violence would strike those who had devised and supported this extermination of human life , and I believe that I can speak for all the Corpi d' élite.net staff here by stating that , in the following months when we heard of the thousands of terrorists and Taliban fighters buried alive in their own bunkers or cuts to ribbons by the Coalition forces , we didn 't bat an eyelid . It was a no win situation in that if they won, we 'd loose, and viceversa . Although the death of our enemies would not have brought back those lost on that tragic day ( as a matter of fact , none of the enemies' lives lost is worth even half of any of those lost on September 11th ) , it would be a clear signal that the West was not prepared to be erased away by a bunch of barbarians . I lay in that moment on my couch , still incredilous before such horror , and thinking that the consequences of what I was seeing could have more serious consequences had our American allies , wisely , awaited the opportune moment to break the spines of those responsible . In the following days and months , we gradually started to get to know more on some of the victims . There were two firemen, a father and son duo , burried allive under the rubble of one tower, and for whom one street has been named in New York .The employee who returned to the WTC after the aircarft impact , sure that the two giants would have stayed erect . The engaged couple who jumped into thin air holding each others hands . The father searching for his own kids . The mothers who would never again embrace them . And added to all this tragedy, the heroic and moving sacrifice of United Airles flight 93 , who sacrificed their lives in a last desperate attempt in regaining control of their hijacked aircraft . The aircraft later crashed in the outskirts of Pittsburgh . It seems that the passengers had surprisingly overcome the hijackers controlling the aircraft in a hand to hand fight ; however they failed to save their own lives in the process . But with their courage they avoided another fourth catastrophe from happening in Washington . Someone once wrote " Times of Teror are Times of Heroism ". It causes much thought that this tragedy , which has struck the world so hard on September 11th , has been able to teach us something we weren 't yet aware of on the greatness of the human spirit . When one thinks of the passengers onboard flight 93 , of those firefighters , defying that selfpreservation subconsciousness , pushed only by that infinite sense of duty and altruism - they didn 't spare a second thought to hurtle themselves to render a service in the twin towers . As others were escaping down through the stair wells , they were going up to help . A race against time and death . They may have saved many from death , but not themselves .
MAY THEIR SOULS REST IN PEACE
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Webmaster | 37 | Italy
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#2032 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
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Year 2001: That year was important for me and my fellow university collegues.Many of us left Italy for their third year abroad, many friends of mine were in the U.S.,I was doing my 6- month internship at a hotel in Rome.
On 9/11 I was in my house in Rome with my boyfriend and my two sisters who came from Sicily to visit me.
My eldest sister, Roberta, was watching at Tv when she cried: " The Twin towers have been hitted!".We sat down and watched what was happening, zapping the variuous Italian channels.
It was horrible, to see the world changing.We felt part of that terrible event, as if we were there with thousands of americans, the ocean, in that moments, was just a physical barrier, but our souls and feelings were with our american Brothers.
I always loved the United States, probably more from the day I visit it for the very first time.I went to California, unfortunately I never visited New York.But those Towers, that flag, the picture of the Big Apple were and always will be part of the heritage of the citizens of the world ...
I soon called some of my friends who were in New York... the lines were busy...
After a couple of hours I could see at a Italian Tv Special a group of them who were greeting their families and I felt a little better.
In certain moments our thoughts immediately go towards our beloved ones and we forget all the bad feelings;
The Good is stronger than the Evil. The Love is the Force which has made Us stronger than a year ago.
God Bless America and we all!
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Valentina | 22 | Italy
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#2030 | Wednesday, September 11th 2002
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I am working in an American Company. Last year, suddenly a message appeared on the PC screen. ! TERRORIST ATTACK TO THE TWIN TOWERS! It was terrible to see what was happening and see fall the towers! I never forgot this moment!
Gabriella. Comerio(Va) Italy 2002/09/11. time: 11am
Sorry for my bad english!!!!
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Gabriella | 47 | Italy
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