By Jeremy Reynalds, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO
Joy Junction Inc.
On the fifteenth anniversary of 9/11, we again remember the events of that terrible day and the thousands whose lives were lost to those awful attacks.
While I have my own story which I’ll share later, I wondered what some of our current Joy Junction guests were doing on that fateful day.
We asked a few people.
One woman said in 2001 she was in the second grade doing a dinosaur project when the principal interrupted over the intercom. He told the teacher to turn on the TV.
She said, “We watched as both towers fell, and were told to call our parents to pick us up from school.”
Many others were also doing “normal” activities on what would turn out to be the most abnormal day.
One woman said she was washing dishes, another was getting her daughter ready for school, and a man-a teenager at the time-didn’t know until later, as he was working on a rabbit farm away from TV or radio.
One guy said he was watching the news while getting ready for work, when he heard that a plane had hit the tower. He recalled at first thinking that it was a pilot or air traffic control error.
“Then the thought crossed my mind ‘terrorism.’ Na! Then the second plane hit the second tower, and my mom and sister started crying. As I was watching I felt sick and scared. I’ll never forget my father calling from base, saying they were on lock down.”
Someone else said they were sleeping off their 35th birthday celebration. “A friend called me to tell me to turn on the TV. I … (saw) the first tower collapsing. My first thought was that my birthday celebration the night before got way out of hand.”
Sadly, that wasn’t the case.
I wondered what 9/11 meant emotionally to our guests. One woman said it made her realize how hateful people can be.
She added, “It also meant that the United States of America had to work together, and I had to rethink the words ‘love’ and ‘help’ when it was needed.’
One man said, “It meant that America is vulnerable as any other country, and that terrorism is a realistic threat to civilization.”
One woman’s friend lost her mom. She said, “It was shocking to me. I didn’t understand what was happening at first and I thought, ‘Why would someone want to hijack a plane and crash it into a tower?’ It was devastating.”
Another woman was horrified. “I thought we were going to war, and it helped me to realize that God was going to judge our country for its sins.”
One guy made a profound comment, saying “It was again the realization that (the USA) gets handed a false sense of security apart from the reality of the rest of the world. What this means is we can be gone in the blink of an eye.”
One person said the terrorists won and that 9/11 “ultimately means nothing more than that it was the most watched TV event off all time.”
That person added, “(Thousands) of Americans died in the attacks, and hundreds of thousands have died since. While the fear and paranoia still exist, people still die daily in this war, yet it is barely is a news blurb anymore except on the anniversary of the attacks.”
One guy said he believed that 9/11 was just the beginning of “The End” for us.
I can’t help but wonder if we’ve learned anything from 9/11. Have we become kinder, more loving, less judgmental and perhaps more loving of God?
I recall that for a short time after the tragedy churches were filled, the Name of God was said in public places without even a peep from those who would typically protest such utterances. Political partisans even spoke to one another!
However, that spirit of cooperation disappeared about as fast as it came, so I stand by what I wrote shortly after the event that only eternity will fully reveal what we as a nation learned from that fateful day. Honestly, though, at this point I’m doubtful that we have learned nearly as much as we needed.
So where were you on Sept. 11 when, as country singer Alan Jackson sung, the world stopped turning.
I remember very clearly how I spent that day, because soon after I wrote an article about it. It now remains to help me – and hopefully you – never forget. Even though my long time readers may remember these words – they have been published a number of times before – I hope they will continue to speak to you.
My Story
Along with millions of other Americans, Sept. 11 2001 began normally for me.
I woke up in Los Angeles (where at the time I was pursuing classes for my Ph.D., expecting to get the first plane back to Albuquerque, New Mexico where I had plans to put in a full day’s work at the office. However, my plans were about to change.
By 5.30 a.m. Pacific Time I was at Los Angeles International Airport. I grabbed a cup of coffee, stood in line and obtained my boarding pass. About 6.40 a.m. I heard rumors my plane had been delayed for about an hour-and-a-half, but at that time I didn’t know why. I wasn’t overly concerned as I had a couple of good books to read. My plans changed a little.
A few minutes later an announcement came over the intercom from another airline stating that one of their flights which had originally been scheduled to leave at the same time as mine would not be leaving until 3 p.m. at the earliest. Something was mentioned about a terrorist attack in New York. I soon discovered that my flight wouldn’t leave till about 3 p.m. either. My plans changed even more.
Realizing that something serious must be happening, I made my way over to a bank of televisions where an ever-increasing number of people were gathering. I quickly found out the full extent of the disaster.
Terrorists had hijacked four commercial planes, and dive bombed them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the Pennsylvania Countryside. The damage was so bad that the 110-story World Trade Center had been obliterated.
As the growing crowd of people around me glued to the television increased and as they realized what had happened, faces turned grim and some people shook their heads in apparent disbelief that such a tragic scenario was unfolding in America.
Still having no idea how much my plans were going to change for that day (though nothing in comparison to the terrible tragedies suffered by those who gave their lives or lost loved ones) I thought that I would just stay at the airport and get that 3 p.m. plane back home.
However, a few minutes later I received a phone call from someone who suggested that I should rent a car. This individual suggested that I should do so quickly, as it was likely a number of other people may have the same idea. I agreed and reserved a car at the company which I regularly used.
I’m happy I did, as within a few minutes of confirming my auto reservation, my airline asked everyone to come back up the desk, where they recalled my boarding pass and cancelled my flight. Within a few minutes of that happening, an announcement was made that every flight in the entire country was being grounded. A few minutes later, an order was given for the airport to be evacuated.
People exited quickly, but nonetheless in an orderly fashion, and Los Angeles Airport, normally a maelstrom of activity, quickly became a ghost town. I made my way over to the car rental company, picked up my car after making sure that I had been given adequate directions, (a nice way of describing my sense of direction is to call me directionally challenged) and started driving.
At various and sometimes unexpected times throughout the long drive I caught glimpses of a shaken America. Pulling off the highway at an outlet mall to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks, a tersely written sign taped to the door and scratched on a brown paper bag announced, “Closed, due to national tragedy.”
However, seeing there were still people inside I poked my nose in and asked the two or three people sitting there if there was still chance of a cup of coffee. The girl who answered me, who appeared to be in her late teens and only barely able to keep her composure, answered, “Sorry, we really are closed.”
I wondered if she’d lost loved ones in the tragedy or if like me, she was wondering how this could happen in America. Her plans had changed too.
Pulling in to a truck stop a few hours later to make a phone call, I heard a burly trucker in the phone booth next to me announce to someone, “Just calling to check in and tell you that I love you. I’ll be home tomorrow.”
Maybe he called home (or wherever) regularly to “check in.” If not, I hope that he continues the practice. Sometimes it takes a crisis for us to do a reality check on what really matters in life.
Returning back to the highway for my next long driving stint, I gazed up at the sky at frequent intervals and realized what a phenomenon I was witnessing. Not a single plane to be seen in the sky. By the lack of what I was seeing, I was witnessing history.
At my next rest stop I wandered into a truck stop full of televisions where not surprisingly everyone in the store had gravitated toward the section housing the televisions, which were all tuned in to CNN.
Nobody seemed to be saying much; everyone just seemed to be trying to absorb the fact that the carnage they were witnessing wasn’t occurring in a backwater nation ruled by an iron fisted despot, but it was happening right here in America.
During the journey, I also sampled whatever radio stations I could pick up. After having listened to the news, listeners seemed glad that talk radio was giving them some sort of outlet for a collective chat (as one talk show host put it) around the electronic fireside.
Not surprisingly, many listeners were angry, but at the same time exercising a disbelief that with all of our sophisticated intelligence gathering techniques that a tragedy of such proportions could occur in America.
I finally arrived home somewhere close to midnight and collapsed into bed exhausted. At least I had arrived home. Many who had left loved ones that morning had done so for the last time, impacted by events that would change their lives and the life of America for ever.
Whatever is facing you today and wherever you are, tell your loved ones you love them. Whether it’s 9/11, ISIS, a health crisis, an auto accident or any one of a strong of other possible scenarios, none of us are promised tomorrow.
