By: Jennifer Ziemba
Alan Jackson asked us “Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day,” back in 2001.
The answer to this question is at the forefront of many Americans’ minds right now. The withdrawal of troops, threats and the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks are all over the news. Where were you twenty years ago?
Some of you may have been too little to remember or not even born, but your parents and grandparents were, and I encourage you to ask where were you that day?
My story is one of confusion and terror mixed with pride and love. I woke up as I always did and did my Tae Bo workout (no judgement it was 2001) before work. I turned off the VHS (again it was a long time ago) and the tv came on showing flight 11 had struck the north tower.
I watched the coverage for a few minutes thinking it was just a fluke. My fiancé, a military policeman for the Ohio Army National Guard, had worked overnight the night before so he was sleeping. I went in and woke him and told him the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. He sleepily said, “Oh ok.”
Again, nothing was mentioned other than it was a tragic accident.
I was in my car headed to work when I learned of flight 175 hitting the south tower. I then knew it wasn’t a tragic accident but something bigger. Something changed in me at that moment. Then while driving, flight 77 struck the Pentagon. Right then I knew we were under attack. America was under attack, and I had to get a hold of my fiancé immediately. This was before cell phones were an everyday every minute thing. I needed to get to a phone and fast.
I got to the hotel I worked at, and no one was at the desk, in the office, or outside. Everyone was crowded around our lounge tv watching the chaos unfold live. I stood for a moment with everyone and watched the south tower collapse.
It collapsed!
I watched as people ran through the streets crying and bloodied and covered in debris and dust. I ran to the phone and called my fiancé, but he wasn’t answering. I called and called and called but no answer.
I had to go home.
I knew my life as I knew it had changed. He was going to have to leave and fight for our country.
I drove home and the feeling that surrounded me was an eeriness that is hard to describe. I had to pass the airport to get home and there were police blocking the exits. I had to go past a strip of stores and saw people sobbing in the street while holding each other. Strangers were embracing on the sidewalk. By this time the north tower collapsed, flight 93 crashed in a field in Pennsylvania and the Pentagon collapsed.
I had to get home!
I ran into our apartment with a sense of urgency I had never felt before. I rushed inside to find my fiancé sitting on the living room floor obliviously going through his CD collection with no intent to turn on the tv. He gave me a big silly smile and asked why I was home. I told him to turn on the tv. He reluctantly did and turned to me with a look of anger and urgency.
He said, “We were attacked. I need my gear.”
I watched him go to the closet and toss all his military gear into the middle of our dining room piece by piece without once thinking how scary this all was. He needed to defend our country. He needed to put himself in harm’s way to protect us. He didn’t have time to process exactly what had happened because he knew what his duty was at that moment. He knew what needed to be done.
The military deserves so much respect. The pride I saw in him in that moment came from the immediate jump to action without even a second thought. That is what the military does. They receive a call, and they react immediately. Without question, they answer the call to duty. This is not a new concept for the military.
As George S. Patton Jr. said, “It is a proud privilege to be a soldier- a good soldier…with discipline, self-respect, pride in his unit and his country, a high sense of duty and obligation to comrades and to his superiors, and a self-confidence born of demonstrated ability.”
There is nothing like a soldier’s bravery in the face of terrorism.
Please remember these men and women put their lives on the line for us every day. They may have signed on the dotted line, but they signed on that dotted line for us.
Their lives matter and we need to respect and appreciate the sacrifices made daily for our freedoms. 9/11 was a day that many will never forget. The way you remember that day is yours forever.
The way I choose to remember the day that changed the world, is also the day that changed my life, and many others lives forever.
