9/11. September Eleventh. Ground Zero. Flight 93. Let's Roll. Bin Laden. Al Qaeda. United We Stand. Patriot Act. Airport Security. Threat Levels. War on Terror. Homeland Security. A few of the short names that have become a big part of our daily lives in the past ten years. Over a third of my life has been since
09-11-2001; my entire adulthood. Since everyone in my generation [and older] has an answer to "Where were you on 9/11?"... here's mine.
It was a Tuesday morning. I was a freshman at the University of Notre Dame, and since my first class wasn't until 10:40 I was sleeping in my dorm room at O'Neill Hall. At the time, Indiana did not follow Daylight Savings Time, so during the summer South Bend clocks matched up with Chicago. When the rest of the country 'fell back" in the fall, we would find ourselves on New York City time. We were still on Chicago Time when our dorm room phone began to ring just after 8:00 that morning. I managed to get down to the phone from my lofted bed, and it took a few seconds to recognize my mom on the other end. She said something about planes crashing in New York and to turn on the TV.
ND didn't have cable in its dorm rooms, but our rabbit ears managed to pull in the local stations pretty well. I'm not sure what channel I got to first, but by then both of the World Trade Centers had been hit and all the channels were streaming footage of the New York skyline. No one had any idea at this point what was going on. Then there were reports of a bomb going off near the Pentagon. Soon it was confirmed to be another airliner. What the hell. It was impossible to leave the television. Airports being shut down. Around 9 the South WTC tower fell; can you
believe this? Within half an hour the North tower had joined it in rubble. Flight 93 reported missing. And through it all, just replay after replay, new footage of planes and buildings and smoke and dust. People running. Slow motion. 'Experts' being phoned and questioned.
Around 10 I called Father Bullene, our 10:40 frosh Drawing class professor, to ask if class had been cancelled because of, well, everything. He told me that he planned to have class as usual, and that he had not heard anything from the University. So I managed to get outside and over to Bond Hall, and as soon as I was there we were told that all classes were being called off for the day. On the way back I had to stop by the Rockne athletic center [don't know why] and while waiting near the front desk [with a nearby TV on] I remember talking with the girl there about the date "9-11" and if the [by-now-reported] terrorists picked the date because of its significance of "Dialing 9-1-1" in emergencies. There were a lot of "why?" questions being thrown around.
I got back to the dorm, and now nearly everyone in my section [3B!] was crowded into the section's TV lounge [only place you can get cable] and quietly watching CNN. We sat there for an hour, then went to South Dining Hall to get the grab-n-go lunch, and returned to eat it in front of the TV.
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| ND's Basilica |
Notre Dame held an outdoor Mass that afternoon in South Quad, setting up an altar near the flagpole and stringing out speakers to the west. I remember the Basilica's bell tolling slowly, like when it holds a funeral. ND is along the landing pattern for South Bend Regional airport. If you've been on campus, you know a lot of planes drone overhead. This afternoon, the sky was quiet. Blue, no contrails.
After Mass we headed back to the dorm, watched some more TV, and began chatting on Instant Messenger. I remember starting a chatroom through AIM and inviting a lot of people from my buddy list on it. Just a lot more questions. Some saying what the terrorists deserve [someone mentioned pushing them off the Sears Tower while on fire]. I first remember getting teary-eyed after reading an article covering the world's response to the attack on the U.S.A. American flags being paraded through the streets in Europe, Africa, Israel, Asia.
By the next morning, many of those short phrases above had begun to wind their way into our lives. The U2 concert that was scheduled for the following week was pushed back to October [and NYC police and firefighters would be there]. Airports would become the focus of intense security overhauls. The WTC site would smoke for a while, then lights would shine into the sky. Stories of heroes on planes and in buildings filled newspapers.
A lot has happened since, and we've accepted the new realities of travel and personal safety. I can't say terrorism didn't cross my mind when considering spending this Sunday at the Bears home opener. That's the way it is. We'll always remember
that Tuesday morning.
