So here's my story:
I woke up to what was a beautiful sunny Sept 11, 2001. The weather was great and I couldn't wait to get to Lehman College to get in some learning and to meet up with friends on what appeared to be a great day to hang out outside. I did my usual getting ready for school routine, told my mom i was heading out and that I'll see her later and headed out the door. I got on the bx22 that took me the whole way to Lehman( i actually miss have to take only one form of public transportion to where i gotta go, just a random though :) ). I usually shared this ride with one of my classmates and this was no expect ion. We talked about the usual BS that college girls talk about then we realized that we where stuck in massive traffic on ford ham rd. I mean don't get me wrong there was always traffic but this was very unusual heavy traffic. It was then that we realized that "Holy crap we're going to be late for class"...lol..I know we were such book worms well I still am. I am one of those people who actually loved going to school so this was a bumper for me and not to mention that the professor wouldn't be to happy either. So we sat on the bus in traffic checking our watches every second hoping that we would get there already but of course that didn't go as we hoped. By the time we got to school we were almost 40 MINS LATE!!!! So being that the class would be over soon we decided to go to the cafe in Carmen Hall and just wait for our next class. As we waited my friend said,"Hey you wanna listen to some T.V?". To that I answered,"What?". She laughed and told me that her radio can pick up T.V stations so that you can hear your favorite morning talk shows while you were on the go. That was news to me and with that I was like,"OK cool.". So there we were sitting at the outside patio trying to pick up a station when a news woman come on saying that a plane crashed into one of the twin towers and they were awaiting more information on what seems to be a terrible accident. As we heard this news and tried to process how could a plane accidentally crash into the tallest building in the world the woman started screaming,"OH GOD THERE'S ANOTHER PLANE HEADING FOR THE OTHER BUILDING!!!". Then we heard it, the plane hit the building.
I don"t have to tell you that what seemed to be like hours was actually only a few seconds. We looked at which other in pure disbelief. "NO THAT JUST NOT HAPPEN!!" was written all over our faces. That's when we realized that nothing was said after the woman shouted those horrible words and as we run around the patio one earplug each looking like crazy people, we couldn't get a single station to get an update. At that moment we both looked up at the clear blue sky and i thought,"DAMN and i was such a beautiful day out." I think it was shock that made me think that but once that moment passed I looked at my friend and we started screaming at every passing person,"THE TWIN TOWERS WERE ATTACKED!!!. But of course no one believed us and looked at us like we were crazy bitches making up such a horrible lie. And of course i didn't care what they thought I know what i heard. So we decided to run to other separate classes to warn our friends, classmates, and teachers for what just happened. I had bio which lucky for me i had a good number of my very close friends in it and a run to them in tears and told them what happened. If it was anyone else I don't think they would have believed me but they knew me well enough to know that I would never make up such a thing. I started asking me questions that I couldn't answer course I hadn't hear anything else. So we went to the teacher and I told him what happened and of course he didn't believe me and i was like,"Look I don't care if you believe me or not but in about a few seconds your going to get a message from the school that this happened and I would have already left course my sister works downtown and I have to find out if she's OK. And if you wanna fail me for leaving do it!!!". And as i started walking away from a very angry teacher with my friends following suit that's when someone from the department ran into the room and told the professor the very same thing I just told him. But I was already out the door. When my friends and I got out of Carmen Hall it was obverse that everyone know what I been known. And that's when we were told that we couldn't leave the school grounds yet do to safe reasons and that the MTA was shut down. So we were sucked on campus. We decided that the best place to go to meet up with the rest of our friends was in the larger cafe at the end of campus and there would be T.Vs that hopefully we could get some information. When we got there many of our friends were there huddled around a T.V in shock and horror. And was just the beginning.
No ones cells were working so they couldn't call or receive any thing but of course me being the only person who still had a beeper was page by my mom and several of my friends parents. We called them on pay phones to let them know we were OK and one of my friends parents who had a car and so happened to live a block away from me came to pick us up. That was a ride i"ll never forget cause as we drove over the Bronx river pkwy we saw the clouds of smoke where the buildings use to stand. I realized that I actually never really noticed the twin towers before because while they were just apart of my everyday life I guess but now that they were gone the view seemed so empty. That's when I realized that i don't ever remember going to those buildings and how i would now very be able to. I started appreciating things a lot more from that moment on.
When I got home my mom was crying and hug me like I was missing for years but i hug her back with the same intensity. I asked her if she heard from my sister and she was like yes, she's walking over the bridge to get back to the Bronx. I was so relieved I started crying cause I think I just realized how close I was to losing my big sister and how destroyed my life would have been without her. I then went to my younger sister and we sat and hugged while watching the news and waiting for our big sister to get home. I was by far one of the longest days of our lives. My poor sister had to walk miles to get to our house which she didn't live but of course she didn't want to be alone and wanted to see her family. When she finally got to the house it was a reunion. We were so overjoyed that she had it safely we just leaped at her with questions of how are you, what was it like, and such. But my poor sister was to exhausted to answer our many questions so she gave us a quick overview and we let her sleep. I did her favortive thing she loved me to do that she always fell right to sleep, I rubbed her head and played with her hair. At that point i was so happy that she was OK that if she wanted me to do that forever i would have. And that was the end of that day for us it was a happy joyous day but unfortunately that many were so lucky.
I found later that there was a few students for Lehman that died on that day and there's a momeriol for them on campus. But thou I didnt really know one except one that was in one of my classes but i wasnt close at all with them it still sadned me. How could there be such evil in this world. But what i took from that day was more then what they took from me. I realized how strong i can be for my friends and family, how much i truly loved the people around me, an apprication for life, people, and things around me. Yea of course i was scared out of my mind then and for sometime after but in the end like a true New Yorker I overcome it.
But New York was changed forever like we all were. We lost one of the most beauitfully made buildings that stood taller then any in the world and we lost so many innicence people. Lives were broken and are still trying to be but back together but theres always something good to learn from tragdy. What I learned was that the human spirit is capable of great evil but even greater good. The men and women who blindly ran into those burning buildings to help people that they didnt even know was something that we should never forget. We might not have super heroes with powers but we do have heroes that are even better. Regular everyday people who put aside the many differences that we have to achieve one goal, safe as many lives as possible. If only we can always be like this but its nice to know that that compassion is there and will kick in the greatest of needs.
God bless everyone who witnessed, lost people, and saved many lives on this day ten years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment