9/11 - 25 Years Later

Ground Zero

 

I have been thinking a lot this week about 9/11. It is still so fresh that it is hard to fathom it was 25 years ago. I went to law school in DC, was married in DC, my daughter was born in DC, I worked for two federal agencies, and spent my entire adult life in the DC area. I was living in Alexandria, Virginia on 9/11. I was in my home alone when American Airlines Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. I felt and heard the massive shockwave that followed. It felt like an earthquake. 

I feel that for many Americans, life is divided before 9/11 and after. I think 9/11 took away more than the almost 3,000 poor souls who vanished that day. It took away our innocence, our sense of invincibility and safety. It seems like it was the first domino to fall, followed by the War on Terror and endless wars, the financial meltdown, the pandemic, government that is profoundly broken, and the overwhelming sense that our best days are behind us. At least we were unified after 9/11 and we could not be more divided today.

Here is what I wrote on my blog for the 20th Anniversary. 

"I was on the telephone with my longtime friend who worked in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation in DC when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. We continued talking for a few minutes. She said she had to go. I could tell from her voice it was bad. Soon thereafter they began evacuating the federal agencies and the White House. Having lived in DC for decades by then, DC is what I considered my hometown. My husband and I had friends at many of the agencies, the Pentagon, and on Capitol Hill. I had also been to the World Trade Center many times for business and for pleasure. My husband and I had dined at Windows on the World on the top floor of the North Tower. My first job out of law school was at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and their New York office was housed in the World Trade Center - the 37th Floor of the North Tower. The CFTC seal was later found in the rubble. All CFTC employees safely evacuated before the collapse.

While glued to the television watching coverage, all the windows in my home began shaking violently. I knew DC had been hit. I would soon learn that it was the plane hitting the Pentagon, and the shock waves had travelled down the Potomac River to my home not far way.

It's hard to describe what is was like unless you were in NYC or DC the days following 9/11. DC was a ghost town in mourning. It felt like the morning after the apocalypse in a movie. But it was real. The airport was closed, the Metrorail was closed, agencies were closed, street closures everywhere, malls closed, major-league sports and concerts cancelled. Life was on hold. You knew instinctively that life would never be the same. Luckily, none of our friends were lost, but so many others of course were.

A couple of weeks later, things were slowly starting to reopen. I had great seats to a Neil Diamond concert at the MCI Center (now Capitol One Arena) for my husband, my daughter, and myself purchased many months earlier. The MCI Center had been closed since 9/11, but it was announced it would reopen starting with that concert. We discussed what to do and decided to go. 

All eyes that night were on that venue, because it was the first event in DC with a large crowd (20,000 people) since 9/11. Many thought it might be the perfect target for another terrorist attack that most thought was coming. We took the Metrorail downtown as it had reopened, past a still darkened and shuttered Reagan National Airport.

Security was very tight at the concert. You could feel the tension in the air. As the concert began, the center was darkened. Mr. Diamond entered with a sole spotlight on him singing "America." But halfway into the song, he changed the lyrics "They're coming to America" to "Stand up for America." Twenty thousand people rose to their feet singing "Stand up for America" in defiance and in resilience, and there was not a dry eye in the house. 

I tried to find a video of it to share but couldn't. I can't even find the exact date. I have no words of wisdom to share. Just a snapshot of my recollections of that day and its immediate aftermath. My thoughts today are with all those innocent lives lost and those who loved them and our own collective loss of innocence on that day. May everyone who died on that day and its twenty year aftermath rest in peace."

Update - with the benefit of AI, I found that the concert was September 30th, 19 days after 9/11. 

"Neil Diamond performed a deeply emotional concert in Washington, D.C., on September 30, 2001, just weeks after the September 11 attacks. 

He famously opened the show with his patriotic anthem "America," accompanied by a massive American flag unfurling on stage.

The night was deeply patriotic and unifying, featuring songs like "Brooklyn Roads," "I Am, I Said," and a special dedication of "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" honoring first responders, teachers, and healthcare workers. Attendees described the sold-out show as intensely moving, tearful, and spirit-lifting during a dark moment in American history."

Never Forget