Hi All:
Well, it's been a year since the disastrous attacks. I was going through my files on my computer and came across a journal entry/letter (whatever you want to call it) that I had written on September 12, 2001. I wrote it for a website that I had up, but I think I also wrote it to help myself deal with the events. I don't know if this is the place, but I felt that maybe I could post it here as a way of remembering that day. I'll post it in the next reply.

~Scott~

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

What a sad day it was Tuesday. I awoke Tuesday morning and got ready to go to work. I had a bit of time, so I checked the morning news to find out what the
weather and the traffic would be like for the day ahead. Still sleepy-eyed, I turned on the local news channel and to my disbelief, they were showing footage of the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. Didn't have much time to take it in before I was out the door, in my car and on my way to work. When I got to work, I searched the internet looking for some report of what the heck was going on. NBC news, CBS news, CNN - all of which I could not get, obviously because of everyone else trying to get information. I'm sure the servers were jam-packed. I finally went to Yahoo!'s site and of course, the news headline read something like, "Tragic Plane Crash at World Trade Center." I read the minute by minute commentary and checked out the Message Boards where people from around the country and around the world were posting messages expressing views from "U.S. Deserved It!" to "How Could This Happen?" to "This Means War!" A mixture of anxious, angry, sad, and (unfortunately) some elated emotions filled my screen from people all over the world expressing their feelings and points-of-view. I had work to do... I went back to working and checked every so often the news reports which seemed more and more disheartening by the minute. Yet, it hadn't really sunk in that this was actually happening. Perhaps I was in a state of shock…Fast forward... I got home after working and turned on the TV to see what the latest reports were on the local news station. The footage from Manhattan seemed so surreal. The idea of two planes crashing into the World Trade Center was something that happened in a movie or something - not in real life! It wasn't until they started interviewing people who were injured, and those who were donating blood that it really hit me...I wept. I kept asking myself how something like this could happen. You've all seen the news, read the articles, heard the stories. Now what? How do we the American people bounce back from something like this? How do the victims' families and friends go on? My Conclusion? Prayer, prayer, prayer! That's how. We can all pray. Pray for the families and friends of the victims' whose lives were taken yesterday. Pray for our nation's government - that they may find guidance in dealing with this horrific event. Pray for those who were responsible for these acts. Pray for each other - each American man, woman, and child. In the coming days, months, and possibly years, I'm sure there will be more developments with this event. The thing I think we all need to focus on is how Jesus would have dealt with all of this. I won't go into any long explanation because what I think will differ from another. All I can say is that we need to keep our faith in God and do what we can to help our fellow Americans - through prayer, donating blood, and I'm sure there are a hundred more things you can think of to help get through this situation. We are strong. And with God by our side, that strength is ten-fold. The first chance you get after reading this letter, call, e-mail, phone, or write to someone you care deeply about and let them know how you feel about them. Hug your husband, wife, children, mother, father, sister, brother, grandmother, grandfather, etc., and let them know how special they are to you. And lastly, P-R-A-Y! The power of prayer is extremely strong!

Scott Slagle
Vacaville, California

Amen, brother!

I echo Peter's Reply.

Jakks

Wow reading this post from 7 years ago... amazing all that has happened.

So devasting, its etched in my memory like it happened yesteday.

Last night around 2:00am on the History channel they showed the documentary compilation of home video recordings of everyone who was down there at the scene when everything happened.

I cried. It was the most painful thing to watch. I remember the day it happened so vividly, though I was not in New York, but watching it live unfold on the news made me feel like I was there.

It showed people falling out of their windows as a last result effort to save themselves or what not. I just could not hold back the tears. It was 2:30 or so before I decided to stop watching it. The reality of those people all being killed was too much.

NEVER FORGET 9/11/01 !

I came across this link a few days ago:

http://www.archive.org/details/sept_11_tv_archive

"This collection contains television news programs recorded live from around September 11, 2001 by the non-profit Television Archive to help patrons research this important part of United States history."

I remember 9/11 almost as vividly as I remember 8/29 and it's aftermath. Dark, dark days...

Ah, too close to the "two minute hate"? Every minute we live in fear, snapping at people and worse, we are making sure the terrorists are winning.

The other moment that sticks with me from that day is listening as our country shut itself down and folks started to give in to fear as endless repeats of the incident footage played on TV. Travel stopped. Convention plans stopped. FedEx air stopped. People stuck in airports all over.

Some of us have families and friends who live right next to that area in Manhattan - some just a few blocks away. Want to hear stories about an ash covered landscape where you can't drive out to get groceries and folks are scrambling to get air filters for their windows ... and ground zero smoldering for over a month?