 Twenty-one years and a day ago, I entered a crowded hospital lounge to await an abdominal CT scan. An earlier chest X-ray of a minor bump near my collarbone had revealed another, unrelated oddity at the bottom of the image. The first was innocent; the second needed follow-up. Tired, irritated, and nervous, I found a chair as far as possible from the growing throng in front of the TV. Couldn’t they lower the volume and let me read in peace?
Not till I turned on the car radio, driving home, did I learn planes had crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City. One lifetime may include just a handful of world events so sudden and immense that practically everyone can tell you what they were doing when they heard the news. My elders spoke of Pearl Harbor that way. My first such experience was the Kennedy assassination. I was in college physics class when a knock drew the professor to the classroom door. Visibly shaken, he told us the President had been shot. Class was dismissed. Students wandered campus in a daze. We drifted gradually into the campus chapel to sit in shock together. What national or international event has left you a vivid personal memory of learning the news? Where were you, or what were you doing? Image: National Park Service, Sept. 11, 2001. Public domain.
4 Comments
Ginny Scholtz
9/12/2022 08:18:52 am
I was driving to work as a parish nurse - a position that offers a listening ear, help and comfort to people in difficult times. I came into the church office in tears and fear to share the news of the attack. I needed help and comfort myself that day. 9/12/2022 01:41:42 pm
Ginny, a moving memory. I hope the person or people in the church office were helpful to be with (as I'm sure you were to them). Grief and fear don't go away, but sharing them in the right company can help us bear them.
Ali
9/12/2022 06:44:54 pm
I was a student nurse at UIC (second career) and had just gotten home from working the night shift in the ER. They were repairing the back stairs at our apartment building in Hyde Park and the construction guys had their radio on. Our windows were open as it was warm already by 9am or so. My roommate heard the news wafting in from the construction guys' radio and pounded on my bedroom door until I woke up (I had been asleep maybe an hour) - we turned on the TV and just sat in shock watching the first tower burning, then the second plane hit. For me, I thought I was dreaming - I thought we were at war and called my mom to tell her not to go into the Loop for work that day (she was never much of a news junky and I figured she had no idea what was going on). She stayed home and watched the news all day - we were all terrified of what might happen next (nuclear war). 9/12/2022 09:20:45 pm
Wow, Ali, sounds almost surreal to wake up to and not be sure if you're still asleep - especially with the news coming in from an unseen radio outside the apartment. Trying to make sense of what was happening was part of it too: was it nuclear war or pilot error? Leave a Reply. |
AuthorI'm a historian who writes novels and literary nonfiction. My home base is Madison, Wisconsin. Archives
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