In a little over an hour, 10 years ago, I felt myself compelled to call people on the west coast to tell them to get out of bed and turn on their TVs.
I'd gotten a call from Big Ed, in Dallas, telling me he'd seen a plane crash into the World Trade Center.
Big Ed was in the Dallas Fashion District, near the Dallas World Trade Center. I assumed he was talking about a plane crashing into that World Trade Center.
I turned on my TV totally confused about what I was looking at. And then, live, I saw the 2nd plane strike the 2nd tower.
I don't remember at what point I started calling the west coast. I know it was well before the first tower collapsed.
My little sister at that point in time worked in law offices high up in a downtown Seattle skyscraper. I remember when I called her I told her I did not think she should go into downtown Seattle that day. I don't remember if she heeded her big brother's advice or not.
It is sort of unsettling that that vivid day happened a decade ago.
I'd returned to Texas only a few days before 9/11, after spending a month up in Washington, driving myself up there for my mom and dad's 50th Anniversary. This was to be the last time I drove from Texas to Washington and back.
A lot of things changed, post 9/11, like driving back to Washington. I think there'd been 5 trips back, pre 9/11, since the move to Texas in late 1998. Or was it 1999?
This morning, as I was looking at my various news sources, online, with all the focus on 9/11 remembrances, it crossed my mind to wonder what sort of fuss was made on December 7, 1951, ten years after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor brought America into World War II. A war which ended less than 4 years later, after America dropped a pair of atom bombs on Japan.
In 1951 America did not have quite the highly developed electronic news media industry it has today. I suspect not as much attention was paid to December 7, 1951 than is being paid to September 11, 2011.
An awful lot of people have died as a result of the barbaric acts of 9/11. And continue to die. An awful lot of people died as a result of the barbaric acts of 12/7. With people, for the most part, ceasing dying in September of 1945.
I imagine the memory of December 7, 1941 would be etched much more vividly into the American consciousness if that awful day was covered live on TV, like the events of 9/11.
Anyway, this should be an interesting day. I think I will start 9/11 off with a long swim in semi-cold water.
After I talked to you and watched some TV, Kristin left for work. But then I freaked out, chased down her bus in my car, and we stayed at home for much of the morning. So, I guess I sorta heeded the advice? 9/11 is David's birthday, so I was focused on that all day.
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