We had a moment of silence today at work at 9:03am. I had to go back to the details of that day to understand the significance of 9:03: when the 2nd (south) tower was hit signaling the first outward indicator to the world that this was not merely an accident, this was intentional.
It is always sobering each year to relive the events of that day but I felt like I needed to. The schools in our district encouraged the children to wear red, white and blue to school and I was moved to heed the counsel as well.
At 9:03 during the silence, I googled up the timeline of 9/11. I then found myself wanting to review once again the many photos for a visual remembrance. I reviewed the pictures online but this one (see above) impacts me most because it makes me recall witnessing the gravity and horror that the victims were faced with and makes me consider the complete despair and hopelessness that they were experiencing. I watched live several people leap to their deaths before it was decided by the media that it was simply too horrible to witness. I read this article with great reverence, always wondering about the details of those people. There is just nothing more disturbing and it so pulls on the heart strings to witness these innocent people who were forced to choose their own manner of death, by fire or by impact.
Most all children have had a discussion with their friends at some point in their young lives contemplating the worst way to die. Of course the various forms of torture come up but barring those, most people tend to agree that death by fire has got to be one of the worst. I fear dying in all forms but death by fire and drowning have always been my “most feared”. Falling to one’s death usually always comes up but is often reduced in horribleness by the assumption that the pain would only last a fraction of split second. I have to think that this is what those people were thinking as the flames grew nearer and hotter.
In the 1974 movie Towering Inferno, some people above the fire were rescued. Any of the 9/11 victims who had seen that film might have maintained the futile hope to hold out until the very end. But at some point if the flames get close and hot enough, a decision has to be made and I’d think that for me falling to my death would be the better way to go (not sure I'd have the courage to do it though). Either way, I’d be praying with all my heart to be translated before actually tasting death.
On September 11, 2001 I was working from home (living in Marietta, GA), my wife was planning to attend a play date at the park with our youngest kids and some of the other neighborhood mothers. When she called next door to Alicen to inquire of the exact time, Alicen replied that she didn’t feel quite up to it any more with all that was going on. And that’s when we tuned in and from that point forward we watched and witnessed the tragic events unfold. The collapsing of the first building (north tower) was devastating, the second was equally as devastating but essentially anticipated, it was just a matter of when it was going to happen. We had no idea how the evacuations were going, no way to offer a hand or to assist in any way. All we could do is watch helplessly from our family room and pray along with the rest of the world.
