What I experienced on this day five years ago…
I was working at the Merchandise Mart in Chicago. (The Merchandise Mart is a HUGE building with its own zip code. It is filled with a mall and food court, showrooms and offices for residential and commercial interiors designers.) I had been working in the Merchandise Mart in a bath & tile showroom for about 9 months. I started the first 6 months as a temp, serving as a personal assistant/sales rep. I had just been hired permanently because my boss really needed me. She fought for me to be hired as a permanent employee. She needed me and I needed the job. It was the first time in a long time that I felt “ok” with my income. I had been temping for too long with too many unexpected days off. This was a blessing, even though it paid very very little.
It was a shame that I was laid off 2 months after 9/11 because our company was based in NY.
On the morning of, I arrived at work still unknowing of the events. It was a regular Tuesday as far as I knew. I went to work on the train and walked into the mammoth building up to the showroom. I was the first to arrive. My co-workers were late. It wasn’t unusual so I went about the morning’s rituals. Then one of the salespeople showed up. She was a wreck. She was crying and not speaking in full sentences. All she kept saying was “why would they do this?” over and over again. She told me what was happening or what she thought was happening. I guess someone had told her on her way into work on the bus. She said it was a middle-eastern terrorist attack. She was quite concerned about this. “This is horrible for everyone. Horrible for my people.” She was Iranian.
The next minute later, the phone rang. I answered it. It was my mom calling, crying so badly. I heard the terror in her voice. She lives in NY, just outside of the city. She was ok and safe but at that time, she didn’t know if I was safe, if there were attacks coming to Chicago, attacks coming to a huge building with its own zip code. Sort of silly thinking, I know. Who would attack a bunch of interior designers? But that’s what you think of when you are scared out of your wits.
My boss arrived next. She knew about it. She called our headquarters in NY & let them know we were evacuating. We were all leaving. I arrived on the train & just simply did not feel safe getting on a train to go home. I called my friend, Max, a wonderful friend that came to the rescue. It took him over an hour to get downtown to pick me up. Traffic was horrible. It seemed everyone had the same idea. It was everyone panicking. I know it can’t even compare to what it must have been like on those NY streets that day. I think of that kind of panic. What we were going through in Chicago was nothing.
My boss needed a ride home too. I couldn’t let her find her way home alone. Max drove her also. It took forever to get anywhere. I remember the car ride. We were silent the whole way, just listening to radio & our hearts beating really fast.
I finally smartened up to call the rest of my family in NY & couldn’t reach my brother for quite a while. I kept trying and trying but the phone lines were overloaded. I called everyone I had in my phone contacts that I knew that was in NY and even those that weren’t just make sure they were ok. I had no idea yet that NY was not the only place that was hit, but it just made sense to touch base with everyone I care about, everyone programmed into my phone. The damn phone lines were still too over loaded for many of the calls & that was the worst part about it…not being able to reach people right away. I did finally reach my brother.
We dropped off my boss. I called my closest friends, Clover & Nicole, and we rounded up at the Heartland Café in Rogers Park, Chicago. The TV was on. It was hard to believe any of us were hungry but it was in the middle of the afternoon & none of us had eaten anything yet. I think we picked at a couple of things and just stared in amazement at the TV. There were very few people in the restaurant but they were all glued to the TV.
I almost forgot this part & was just refreshed my memory with Max:
We were leaving the restaurant to head to one of my friend’s homes and got into Max’s car. It wouldn’t start. Our nerves were shot & what the hell was THIS now? Turned out, we needed a jump. Max called AAA & we just sat & waited. The smoking ban was off for all of us and we smoked like chimneys. The day was so awful and now we were stuck on the very north side of Chicago where none of us lived, with deliberate violence against our country going on. And the car is busted. We were so tired of crying...we laughed our faces off.
Four friends, drunk with grief and fear, smoking our brains out. And laughing like hell because there was nothing else to do.
AAA finally got there, gave us a quick jump & we were off.
We went to Nicole’s house where we were able to check in with our families again since it was now evening time. I remember there was so much anger on the other end of the phone when I spoke to some people. Anger at Osama Bin Laden.
Anger I didn’t understand.
Nobody deserved this kind of hate and destruction so I just didn’t feel the need to “go find him and kill him” as others were stating.
I remember the four of us talking on the back porch, trying to think of why something like this would happen, how the world is such a confusing place and how we could possibly make it better.
That was five years ago.
After more than enough doses of TV, with “America Under Attack,” “War on America” and other overly-dramatic and insultingly demeaning media labels…after a billion glorified “God Bless America” tributes and disgusting remarks made from our government about “evildoers”…I still don’t feel we should have gone into Iraq and started uprooting those people. I won’t even waste your time bringing up the fact that Osama wasn’t there.
To my knowledge, 2973 people were killed on 9/11/01.
Why have we sent what I believe is currently 2662 Americans to die in Iraq?
And I’m sure the amount of Iraqi deaths is much greater.
Iraqi people should not pay for what happened to us on 9/11/01.
Payment with their lives.
WE should no longer pay with our lives.
Please support our troops and bring them home. Sending them off to kill and be killed is not “support.”
Much love to all. May you find peace.
It was a shame that I was laid off 2 months after 9/11 because our company was based in NY.
On the morning of, I arrived at work still unknowing of the events. It was a regular Tuesday as far as I knew. I went to work on the train and walked into the mammoth building up to the showroom. I was the first to arrive. My co-workers were late. It wasn’t unusual so I went about the morning’s rituals. Then one of the salespeople showed up. She was a wreck. She was crying and not speaking in full sentences. All she kept saying was “why would they do this?” over and over again. She told me what was happening or what she thought was happening. I guess someone had told her on her way into work on the bus. She said it was a middle-eastern terrorist attack. She was quite concerned about this. “This is horrible for everyone. Horrible for my people.” She was Iranian.
The next minute later, the phone rang. I answered it. It was my mom calling, crying so badly. I heard the terror in her voice. She lives in NY, just outside of the city. She was ok and safe but at that time, she didn’t know if I was safe, if there were attacks coming to Chicago, attacks coming to a huge building with its own zip code. Sort of silly thinking, I know. Who would attack a bunch of interior designers? But that’s what you think of when you are scared out of your wits.
My boss arrived next. She knew about it. She called our headquarters in NY & let them know we were evacuating. We were all leaving. I arrived on the train & just simply did not feel safe getting on a train to go home. I called my friend, Max, a wonderful friend that came to the rescue. It took him over an hour to get downtown to pick me up. Traffic was horrible. It seemed everyone had the same idea. It was everyone panicking. I know it can’t even compare to what it must have been like on those NY streets that day. I think of that kind of panic. What we were going through in Chicago was nothing.
My boss needed a ride home too. I couldn’t let her find her way home alone. Max drove her also. It took forever to get anywhere. I remember the car ride. We were silent the whole way, just listening to radio & our hearts beating really fast.
I finally smartened up to call the rest of my family in NY & couldn’t reach my brother for quite a while. I kept trying and trying but the phone lines were overloaded. I called everyone I had in my phone contacts that I knew that was in NY and even those that weren’t just make sure they were ok. I had no idea yet that NY was not the only place that was hit, but it just made sense to touch base with everyone I care about, everyone programmed into my phone. The damn phone lines were still too over loaded for many of the calls & that was the worst part about it…not being able to reach people right away. I did finally reach my brother.
We dropped off my boss. I called my closest friends, Clover & Nicole, and we rounded up at the Heartland Café in Rogers Park, Chicago. The TV was on. It was hard to believe any of us were hungry but it was in the middle of the afternoon & none of us had eaten anything yet. I think we picked at a couple of things and just stared in amazement at the TV. There were very few people in the restaurant but they were all glued to the TV.
I almost forgot this part & was just refreshed my memory with Max:
We were leaving the restaurant to head to one of my friend’s homes and got into Max’s car. It wouldn’t start. Our nerves were shot & what the hell was THIS now? Turned out, we needed a jump. Max called AAA & we just sat & waited. The smoking ban was off for all of us and we smoked like chimneys. The day was so awful and now we were stuck on the very north side of Chicago where none of us lived, with deliberate violence against our country going on. And the car is busted. We were so tired of crying...we laughed our faces off.
Four friends, drunk with grief and fear, smoking our brains out. And laughing like hell because there was nothing else to do.
AAA finally got there, gave us a quick jump & we were off.
We went to Nicole’s house where we were able to check in with our families again since it was now evening time. I remember there was so much anger on the other end of the phone when I spoke to some people. Anger at Osama Bin Laden.
Anger I didn’t understand.
Nobody deserved this kind of hate and destruction so I just didn’t feel the need to “go find him and kill him” as others were stating.
I remember the four of us talking on the back porch, trying to think of why something like this would happen, how the world is such a confusing place and how we could possibly make it better.
That was five years ago.
After more than enough doses of TV, with “America Under Attack,” “War on America” and other overly-dramatic and insultingly demeaning media labels…after a billion glorified “God Bless America” tributes and disgusting remarks made from our government about “evildoers”…I still don’t feel we should have gone into Iraq and started uprooting those people. I won’t even waste your time bringing up the fact that Osama wasn’t there.
To my knowledge, 2973 people were killed on 9/11/01.
Why have we sent what I believe is currently 2662 Americans to die in Iraq?
And I’m sure the amount of Iraqi deaths is much greater.
Iraqi people should not pay for what happened to us on 9/11/01.
Payment with their lives.
WE should no longer pay with our lives.
Please support our troops and bring them home. Sending them off to kill and be killed is not “support.”
Much love to all. May you find peace.
posted by Alanda at 4:17 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks for sharing. May they all come home soon.
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