Today’s SoCS prompt from Linda:
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “where.” Use it any way you’d like!
It’s inevitable, today, isn’t it, to think back to that day, twenty years ago?
A day that is burned into the memory of all those who were around at that time.
I just sepnt time telling my thirteen year old daughter about it all.
Where was I?
I remember being unwell, and had called in sick at the bank I was working in, at the time.
Laying in bed feeling sorry for myself, I was dozing, when Pops rushed into my room. “Quick! Switch on your TV to the news!”
As the screen turned on, all I saw were repeated video clips of an airplane flying into a building. Reading the scrolling headlines at the bottom, I came to know that something had happened in New York. One of the Twin Towers had been hit.
Was it an accident? Or…?
As the speculation spread, we were watching, live, as the second plane struck.
Horrified, we didn’t konw what to think.
Then I remembered that one of my friends had been visiting New York, and was planning on going up to the roof of the Towers. In fact she had been the day bofore and mere hours before the attack, had posted photos of herself and her friends, up there.
Was she okay? Was everyone okay?
The news continued to get worse, with the Pentagon attack, and a fourth plane crashed, after brave passengers fought the hijackers. That one was believed to have been headed for the White House.
Panic spread across the world, not just the US.
The began to mention Canary Wharf in the UK, in London. That’s where Hubby Dearest worked at that time. We were counting down the two months until our wedding, at that time.
I was frantically calling him, to make sure he was okay.
There were reports of suicide bombers in the area, but they were unfounded.
Thankfully, he was safe.
Unlike so many others in the US. Almost three thousand lives lost.
Terrorism is a horrible thing. It achieves nothing for the masses, just breeds fear and hatred, instead.
I wish we could say that the world learned from this awful incident, but sadly, it hasn’t.
We are still surrounded by situations, across the world, where terrorists reign, in some areas. People are living in fear of their lives.
Sitting here, remembering everything, my stomach still churns at the memories…
That’s where I was, twenty years ago…
But I Smile Anyway... 