like most Americans, i will never forget the morning of September 11, 2001. it was exactly a week before i was to fly to Scotland to live. exactly a week before.
i was living in Boise, Idaho and i was staying with some friends for a couple of weeks, after I had vacated my apartment and put my belongings in storage. i was excited to fly out in a week to spend my time, talents, and efforts and give of my heart to serve doing ministry and missions on the streets of Glasgow for 9 months.
that morning i was sleeping soundly on the couch when my friends came rushing into the livingroom at 7:00am and turned on the TV. they had just been wakened by a phonecall by a family member informing them about what was going on in New York at that moment.
the live images coming from the television had our mouths agape with horror as we watched in silence. right before our eyes the second plane hit the World Trade Center. we were stunned. and within an hour and a half from that time we watched both towers collapse as tens of thousands of people died (including emergency response crews). throughout the morning we were also informed of the third plane hitting the Pentagon and the fourth plane crashing in a field.
all air traffic was halted over the United States for a week. people were stranded everywhere across our nation and abroad...trying to get home.
the unthinkable had happened to the United States. we vowed as a country that we would never forget and we together we would fight for our freedoms and honor the innocent lives lost that day.
today marks the 7th year anniversary of 9-11. tonight, i just finished watching a documentary on the History Channel completely made of real video footage from citizens of New York who were right there in the midst of what was happening as it happened. it left me speechless. it left me in tears.
when the planes began flying again it was utter chaos. airlines hustled to catch up from being shut down for a week and the government cracked down on security procedures for passengers. hundreds of flights were cancelled as countless Americans scrambled to be airbound again. but many were too afraid to fly. the dark cloud that loomed over Manhattan from the collapse of the towers lingered like an oppressive cloud over the entire nation.
it was in the midst of this chaos, exactly a week after the terrorist attacks on US soil, that i entered the fray. after a 10 hour drive up to the Seattle area from Boise, i phoned my airline to check on the status of my flight out of the States. it had been cancelled. i was instructed to immediately get to the airport to inquire with other airlines. it was an hour drive to the airport from where i was. once at Sea-Tac, i was overwhelmed at the sea of people packed in like sardines all trying to find their way.
i stood in one line forever. then i was told to join another line forever. finally after much waiting, i was able to obtain a flight out that morning but it would land in Calgary, Canada and i would need to catch another plane from there to Toronto in order to meet up with my original flight that would head to Glasgow, Scotland. after getting my boarding pass i then had to stand in line forever to go through all the new security procedures.
i won't document each leg of the trip...but i will say, it was a very very long day (actually 2 days) by the time i was able to find my feet on Scottish soil. and i know that my family and friends were on the edge waiting for my phone call that i was safe.
this was the beginning of my 9 month stay in Scotland. needless to say, i was up against tons of fears as i traveled in the wake of 9-11 (and not just my own...but also my family & friends & my church-who were sending me over). there were many prayers and many tears and hugs and words of love shared between us all before i left. it's a time i will never forget. it's a time that is hard for me to talk about
*read the post: "a knock on the door" to learn more about that first week in Glasgow facing my fears
and because just a week after 9-11 i was living in a different country, i didn't really get the opportunity, like most Americans, to fully mourn and get angry and come to terms with how i felt in the weeks and months that proceeded. it turned out that due to circumstances beyond my control, i was unable to own a television to watch news programs. the only news that i was able to get on a consistant basis (of what was happening the US) were from UK newspapers and what i could read on-line each week as i checked my email at internet cafes. and though the UK is our biggest political ally...the news is reported differently than in one's own home country. eventually there wasn't much news at all regarding 9-11 and i ended up out of touch with how things were going in the US.
though i had the fortune of making some great friends in Scotland, there were only a handful of Americans that i knew in Glasgow....and i was there to serve and learn about the Scottish people and their culture and how best to meet their needs. so in many ways, my needs of mourning and getting angry at the attacks on my own country, were pushed aside for the more immediate needs of others.
when i arrived back in Idaho in May of 2002, i came home to a different nation. i was told that Americans were saturated by the images and issues and commentary and politics of the media regarding our governments' response to the terrorist attacks. my friends and family didn't really care to discuss it with me because they were tired of it and from their point of view they had already talked it out a hundred times. i was left empty and depressed and i found myself once again pushing my feelings aside to get on with life.
tonight i allowed myself to mourn. that's why i'm writing this blog. it's the first time i've written about that day and how i felt afterwards.
for a timeline of what happened on the day of September 11, 2001 click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,_2001_timeline_for_the_day_of_the_attacks
