It’s been 11 years now since the terrible attack on America and I remember it like it was yesterday. It had only been 2 years since I moved from NYC back to Minneapolis and still had many friends there.
When I woke up that morning I remember getting in my car to head to work which coincidentally I named after a famous NYC landmark. When I got in my car I remember hearing shock jock KQRS DJ Tom Barnard sounding like he’d never sounded before… Rattled.
By the time I got to work the 2nd plane had already hit and fellow coworkers and clients were all in shock.
Within hours Twin Cities malls and government building were joining airports around the country and closing their doors. Remember… We didn’t know what was next.
As our eyes were glued to the TV for pretty much the rest of the afternoon I recall calling clients and closing my business for the rest of the day. How could one focus with what we just witnessed? I had at least one friend who I knew worked at the World Trade Center and with phone lines cutoff or jammed I couldn’t get a hold of anyone.
By early that evening I had decided to head home and meet my brother. On the way there I heard rumors of $7.00/gallon gas prices and everyone else must have too. I drove by a gas station well outside the city and saw over a hundred cars waiting in line for gas.
When I got home my brother and I ate dinner and watched the TV in awe. Probably one of the most distinct memories I have about that night was going outside with my brother while he had a smoke. I remember sitting on the front steps looking up at the sky and thinking how eerie it was. It was silent. No planes, few people leaving their houses or their TV’s and I remember having that “Red Dawn” feeling.
While it’s been 11 years now and the country has recovered from the physical damage and most from the emotional, the one thing that struck me inspired me to write this Facebook post today…
What I remember about this day 11 years ago and the days after was it didn’t matter if you were a democrat or republican, black – white – hispanic, Yankees or Redsox fan, Mac or PC or any other trivial difference in our daily lives. What mattered was we were all Americans that took pride in our country and would do anything to help our neighbors. Although we we will never forget that day we seemed to have forgotten how we acted towards each other following that tragedy. If we should remember anything about that day… that might have been the most important. – Bryan Hauer
What were you doing that crazy day? Let me know in the comments below.
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