My Thoughts and Memories of September 11th 2001
My memories of September 11th 2001.
I was 19, about to start my degree in History at the local university. But unlike many September 11th was never going to be an easy day for me.
My story starts on September 5th, my uncle had died after a prolonged illness, which I hadn't been told the true extent of. I was at a loss, my uncle Lawrence, though I didn't see him often was always special to me and his death effected me greatly. After finding out he had died, my brother and I tried desperately to contact my parents who were on holiday in Ireland (naturally with their mobiles switched off) we finally managed to reach them in the early evening to try and arrange things and to find out more info about what we needed to do.
The next day, we found out that the funeral was to be held in Northern Ireland on September 12th, it was decided that my brother and I would fly out and meet my parents there. My sister drove my brother and I to the train station on September 10th, as we had to travel to Manchester airport. We didn't get into Manchester until gone midnight, little did I know (like the rest of the world) when I went to sleep that night the horrors that the world would see the next day. I was nervous as I had never flown in a plane before but excited at the same time for the novelty of it...
...Our flight landed in the Derry City airport in Northern Ireland (unbeknown to us) shortly before the 1st plane hit the World Trade Centre. We were on one of the final flights to land in Northern Ireland that day after the authorities grounded all domestic and international flights to and from the Uk.
We pulled up into my aunt and uncles house and it wS unusual not to be greeted at the door, when we walked in to the kitchen we found out why, within a minute of walking in the 2nd plane had hit.
I remember standing in the door way, unsuccessfully trying to stop the silent tears falling, I didn't truly understand why I was crying. Yes I knew that something evil had happened but in some ways even though I had seen it didn't make it seem anymore real.
You must understand at this point that terrorism was not something new or foreign to me. My dad was born and raised a Catholic in Northern Ireland in the 1940s (pre troubles) he and his brother, Lawrence left for England to find work when it became impossible for young Catholics to find work in engineering (& many other sectors). Since the day I was born I have been brought up a certain way, with certain beliefs; I have grown up being affected by other people's ignorance, arrogance and racist beliefs (including those of my next door neighbours (whose brother shouted over the garden fence to my dad and 8 year old sister "you Irish scum should crawl back underneath the rock you came from!) I have live through news coverage of shootings and car bombs both in England and Ireland.
The worst was truly believing that my family had been in Omagh on august 15th 1998, the day the bomb went off. Quite possibly some of the worst hours of my life, at 16 staying with an aunt and uncle in the Uk whilst the rest of my family was in Ireland for another funeral (my dad being 1 of 10 siblings has meant many funerals :{ ) it took me 4 hours to make contact with my family to ensure that they were ok and had not in fact been in Omagh. One thing the Omagh bomb did show me was that the terrorist wilfully killed their own people, it is wildly known at the Republican "Real IRA" planted the bomb and gave false warnings which ultimately lead to more deaths, and planting it in Omagh was going to kill Catholics.
However, even knowing such horrors could happen, nothing could have prepared me for that day 10 years ago. 9/11 was on such on unimaginable scale, targeting building that I would never have though possible (even though the subway had been targeted in 1993).
9/11 is the event of my lifetime, at 19 I was old even to know what it meant and for it to have a profound effect. Previous generations have had events such as the World Wars, the Moon Landings, Royal weddings which have effected their generations (maybe not to the same degree). but prior to 9/11 my generation would have asked "where were you when Nelson Mandela was freed? Or where were you when you found out Princess Diana died (I was watching Mandela walking free on Tv, impatiently waiting for my Mam to take me to a friends birthday party {I didn't understand the significance for another 4 years} and I was at church when the priest asked us to pray for Diana's family and her soul, I was 15 at the time). But now no one and probably rightly so sees past 9/11, it has had a global effect, especially with the War on Terror, and the links to the July Bombings in the Uk. It also had a deeply personal effect, for me I landed ok in Ireland that fateful day, but uncle, the one whose funeral I was to attend the following day, was not so lucky. His casket was grounded at West Midlands airport and we had to wIt days for cargo flights to resume.
I know that many people think about all those who died in the World Trade Centre, and the planes at the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, as do I but on September 11th 2011, I think about my family, esp my uncle. I think about the War on Terror (a very contentious issue for me) I even think about the terrorists, and how they could have justified all the death, destruction, pain and loss they caused. But I also look at my life, what I have done in the last decade, I think about those close to me who I have lost and also those who I have gained. Though I believe most important of all I think about where I am going... I have another funeral to attend this week, but today was also a celebration of a new life that came into the world recently at a naming day. I think how my father is getting on with his Parkinson's disease, I think how both my brother and Twin sister are married and I have one adorable niece, I think about how I found out this morning the church I have been to every week for the last 22 years will be closed down in 5 years due to the lack of priests and planned restructuring. And finally I think about what I am going to be doing, by the end of this month, the end of the year, by my 30th birthday next July and by September 11th 2021.
I don't know the answers to many of these things but I can only hope that I learn from the past not to repeat mistakes in the future and that all look on the events that happened 10 years ago today and move on from them, to move on but never to forget, those that died and those that will die from the effects of that day.
I hope I have ended on a positive note, but I found it difficult to write this post. I hope this post hasn't bored, offended or upset anyone, that certainly is not my intention but this is my own way to mark this date 10 year on.
Thank you for taking the time to read and take care x
(ps any errors in this post are mine and mine alone and I hope you can forgive me as it is almost midnight, thanks)
I was 19, about to start my degree in History at the local university. But unlike many September 11th was never going to be an easy day for me.
My story starts on September 5th, my uncle had died after a prolonged illness, which I hadn't been told the true extent of. I was at a loss, my uncle Lawrence, though I didn't see him often was always special to me and his death effected me greatly. After finding out he had died, my brother and I tried desperately to contact my parents who were on holiday in Ireland (naturally with their mobiles switched off) we finally managed to reach them in the early evening to try and arrange things and to find out more info about what we needed to do.
The next day, we found out that the funeral was to be held in Northern Ireland on September 12th, it was decided that my brother and I would fly out and meet my parents there. My sister drove my brother and I to the train station on September 10th, as we had to travel to Manchester airport. We didn't get into Manchester until gone midnight, little did I know (like the rest of the world) when I went to sleep that night the horrors that the world would see the next day. I was nervous as I had never flown in a plane before but excited at the same time for the novelty of it...
...Our flight landed in the Derry City airport in Northern Ireland (unbeknown to us) shortly before the 1st plane hit the World Trade Centre. We were on one of the final flights to land in Northern Ireland that day after the authorities grounded all domestic and international flights to and from the Uk.
We pulled up into my aunt and uncles house and it wS unusual not to be greeted at the door, when we walked in to the kitchen we found out why, within a minute of walking in the 2nd plane had hit.
I remember standing in the door way, unsuccessfully trying to stop the silent tears falling, I didn't truly understand why I was crying. Yes I knew that something evil had happened but in some ways even though I had seen it didn't make it seem anymore real.
You must understand at this point that terrorism was not something new or foreign to me. My dad was born and raised a Catholic in Northern Ireland in the 1940s (pre troubles) he and his brother, Lawrence left for England to find work when it became impossible for young Catholics to find work in engineering (& many other sectors). Since the day I was born I have been brought up a certain way, with certain beliefs; I have grown up being affected by other people's ignorance, arrogance and racist beliefs (including those of my next door neighbours (whose brother shouted over the garden fence to my dad and 8 year old sister "you Irish scum should crawl back underneath the rock you came from!) I have live through news coverage of shootings and car bombs both in England and Ireland.
The worst was truly believing that my family had been in Omagh on august 15th 1998, the day the bomb went off. Quite possibly some of the worst hours of my life, at 16 staying with an aunt and uncle in the Uk whilst the rest of my family was in Ireland for another funeral (my dad being 1 of 10 siblings has meant many funerals :{ ) it took me 4 hours to make contact with my family to ensure that they were ok and had not in fact been in Omagh. One thing the Omagh bomb did show me was that the terrorist wilfully killed their own people, it is wildly known at the Republican "Real IRA" planted the bomb and gave false warnings which ultimately lead to more deaths, and planting it in Omagh was going to kill Catholics.
However, even knowing such horrors could happen, nothing could have prepared me for that day 10 years ago. 9/11 was on such on unimaginable scale, targeting building that I would never have though possible (even though the subway had been targeted in 1993).
9/11 is the event of my lifetime, at 19 I was old even to know what it meant and for it to have a profound effect. Previous generations have had events such as the World Wars, the Moon Landings, Royal weddings which have effected their generations (maybe not to the same degree). but prior to 9/11 my generation would have asked "where were you when Nelson Mandela was freed? Or where were you when you found out Princess Diana died (I was watching Mandela walking free on Tv, impatiently waiting for my Mam to take me to a friends birthday party {I didn't understand the significance for another 4 years} and I was at church when the priest asked us to pray for Diana's family and her soul, I was 15 at the time). But now no one and probably rightly so sees past 9/11, it has had a global effect, especially with the War on Terror, and the links to the July Bombings in the Uk. It also had a deeply personal effect, for me I landed ok in Ireland that fateful day, but uncle, the one whose funeral I was to attend the following day, was not so lucky. His casket was grounded at West Midlands airport and we had to wIt days for cargo flights to resume.
I know that many people think about all those who died in the World Trade Centre, and the planes at the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, as do I but on September 11th 2011, I think about my family, esp my uncle. I think about the War on Terror (a very contentious issue for me) I even think about the terrorists, and how they could have justified all the death, destruction, pain and loss they caused. But I also look at my life, what I have done in the last decade, I think about those close to me who I have lost and also those who I have gained. Though I believe most important of all I think about where I am going... I have another funeral to attend this week, but today was also a celebration of a new life that came into the world recently at a naming day. I think how my father is getting on with his Parkinson's disease, I think how both my brother and Twin sister are married and I have one adorable niece, I think about how I found out this morning the church I have been to every week for the last 22 years will be closed down in 5 years due to the lack of priests and planned restructuring. And finally I think about what I am going to be doing, by the end of this month, the end of the year, by my 30th birthday next July and by September 11th 2021.
I don't know the answers to many of these things but I can only hope that I learn from the past not to repeat mistakes in the future and that all look on the events that happened 10 years ago today and move on from them, to move on but never to forget, those that died and those that will die from the effects of that day.
I hope I have ended on a positive note, but I found it difficult to write this post. I hope this post hasn't bored, offended or upset anyone, that certainly is not my intention but this is my own way to mark this date 10 year on.
Thank you for taking the time to read and take care x
(ps any errors in this post are mine and mine alone and I hope you can forgive me as it is almost midnight, thanks)
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