Sharing Our Stories Of Where We Were That Day

Author: José A. Rodriguez
Image: Paula Anderanin

It’s been 10 years. Hard to believe that it’s been 10 years, since the three events occurred that changed the date of 9/11 in the minds of Americans and the rest of the world. This made us all think differently and we never saw the same way since. It changed our country, especially the younger generations like mine.

On the morning of 9/11, I was waking up from a nap just before class at UM-Dearborn. It was early in the morning, yet I could hear a buzz circulating. I was hearing something about planes crashing, The World Trade Center and New York City. This was before the Internet was huge and before everybody had smartphones. Hell, I didn’t even have a cell phone yet. When I called my dad to find out, I had to use a nearby pay phone.

At first, I just wanted to confirm if this was true. When he told me that it was, I tried to wrap my head around it. I envisioned some small private plane that was lost and crashed into the building. At that time, I couldn’t have picture the slowly approaching reality. The buzz kept building up and I wasn’t sure what was true and what wasn’t. All that I wanted was some type of confirmation.

Truth be told, I don’t remember, if I even went to class that morning. The thing that stood out the most was hanging out with some guys that were passing acquaintances and we were all trying to figure out what was going on. When we heard that a second plane crashed, we knew that it was no accident. What the hell was going on?

The other guys and I were in our early 20s and we envisioned another Vietnam. We all did the math to see if we were of draft age and we were. We had visions of being drafted, going to boot camp and going overseas to fight some war. The only thing that we knew for sure was that our world had changed forever. We were no longer innocent.

In the end, unlike other institutions in the area, we didn’t close for classes. It was weird going to class and, in the backs of our minds, we were worried if we were next. I remember that, in my women’s lit class, the instructor scrapped the class for the day and we just talked about the aftermath. I guess from what I heard UMD was looked at to see if there would be unrest on campus. Fortunately, nothing happened.

I think that anybody who is old enough to remember and saw those images on the media were forever marked. At that time, we, as a country, were united in our pain and in feeling for all of those people that were lost. The world, also, shared in our mourning. However, that didn’t last that long. It saddens me, as we approach the tenth anniversary, that the world lost that togetherness.

As for me, I have a much deeper appreciation for a lot that we regard as American. Every time that I hear the National Anthem performed and it gets to the lines, “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,/Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,” I tear up because I see the flag recovered from Ground Zero and perched on a piece of wreckage by some firefighters. That spot on Ground Zero became my Fort McHenry.

So with me sharing my story, I invite our readers to share their stories. Although ten years have passed, we are united through the events of that day. We were all affected. We all remember.