story40.xml
Title
story40.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2002-02-04
911DA Story: Story
On September 11, 2001, I was sitting in a Board of Director's Meeting at my non-profit organization. We were about to go around the table giving introductions and welcoming the new Board members, when someone who had her computer on, alerted us that a plane had hit one of the World Trade Center Towers.
I remember feeling momentarily stunned and then propelled into action to get to my telephone and locate my daughter and son-in-law as I knew they traveled through the WTC subway every day between 8 and 9 a.m. By the time I returned to my office, the second plane had hit. All of the under 30 staff were glued to the television acting very frightened as other sites were mentioned as targets--particularly those in DC.
About the time the 3rd plane hit the Pentagon, our building--which is near the White House--was evacuated. Of course, the Metro was closed for a while and within an hour downtown DC was in gridlock. People whose buildings were emptied had no place to be except on the sidewalks. Suddenly, DC became like scenes from many disaster movies--people in a panic trying to make contact with family, friends and so forth. Traffic was at a stand still and airports closed. Taxis were immediately full and rental cars unavailable.
Thankfully, I found my daughter was working from home and my son-in-law was safe as well, despite being covered with ash and debris as he fled the area. Our Board members who had flown in for the meeting took a variety of approaches to the transportation problem. One member paid a taxi driver several hundred dollars to drive him to Philadelpha. Another group bought a car and drove to Georgia. Several stayed with organization staff and some checked into local hotels--which filled up quickly.
I am grateful that no one I loved was directly involved, however everyone is affected as we all now feel very vulnerable and are not sure where new danger may lie. In DC and NYC there are restrictions on our behavior/movement which were not in place before. Those of us who can see Ground Zero or the Pentagon every day are reminded anew of the day that made us all feel afraid for our lives.
I have two hopes for the future. One is that this sense of patriotism and respect for the American values of freedom, democracy, individual worth are not forgotten as September 11 becomes less of a media focus. Second, I wish that those countries where individual life has little or no value are helped to join the rest of the modern world--thereby eliminating most terrorists groups who are convinced or who know from personal experience that life on earth has nothing to offer them, so they are willing to commit suicide and other acts of terror under the assumption that they will be rewarded with a better life after death.
I remember feeling momentarily stunned and then propelled into action to get to my telephone and locate my daughter and son-in-law as I knew they traveled through the WTC subway every day between 8 and 9 a.m. By the time I returned to my office, the second plane had hit. All of the under 30 staff were glued to the television acting very frightened as other sites were mentioned as targets--particularly those in DC.
About the time the 3rd plane hit the Pentagon, our building--which is near the White House--was evacuated. Of course, the Metro was closed for a while and within an hour downtown DC was in gridlock. People whose buildings were emptied had no place to be except on the sidewalks. Suddenly, DC became like scenes from many disaster movies--people in a panic trying to make contact with family, friends and so forth. Traffic was at a stand still and airports closed. Taxis were immediately full and rental cars unavailable.
Thankfully, I found my daughter was working from home and my son-in-law was safe as well, despite being covered with ash and debris as he fled the area. Our Board members who had flown in for the meeting took a variety of approaches to the transportation problem. One member paid a taxi driver several hundred dollars to drive him to Philadelpha. Another group bought a car and drove to Georgia. Several stayed with organization staff and some checked into local hotels--which filled up quickly.
I am grateful that no one I loved was directly involved, however everyone is affected as we all now feel very vulnerable and are not sure where new danger may lie. In DC and NYC there are restrictions on our behavior/movement which were not in place before. Those of us who can see Ground Zero or the Pentagon every day are reminded anew of the day that made us all feel afraid for our lives.
I have two hopes for the future. One is that this sense of patriotism and respect for the American values of freedom, democracy, individual worth are not forgotten as September 11 becomes less of a media focus. Second, I wish that those countries where individual life has little or no value are helped to join the rest of the modern world--thereby eliminating most terrorists groups who are convinced or who know from personal experience that life on earth has nothing to offer them, so they are willing to commit suicide and other acts of terror under the assumption that they will be rewarded with a better life after death.
Collection
Citation
“story40.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 20, 2025, https://www.911digitalarchive.org/items/show/13157.