Unit 4 A History Event
Man 1: On 9/11, I was actually just getting out of class. I was taking the D train home over the Manhattan Bridge. And, at the time, I actually saw the event happen. As the planes were coming down. I thought it was, like, a movie being shot or something.
Man 2: 9/11, I was, uh, in my apartment, which is... about two miles north of the impact site. And I heard a plane flying so low overhead that I stopped what I was doing and I listened for an explosion, I heard one. I heard people shouting outside in the street.
Woman 1: I wasn’t in the city. I was at school in Illinois. So, I found out about 9/11, my parents called me, I think, right when it happened, and told me to turn on the television and watch.
Man 3: I had been working for Morgan Stanley, and that was a Tuesday, I believe, and I had been to work on Monday but asked for Tuesday off. And, uh, they had called and said, “Can you come in?” And I said, “I really can’t. I’ve got this stuff I’ve got to do.” And, uh, so, it was roughly about 8:30 or so, and I was trying to decide whether or not I could squeeze in the things I had to do that day and go to work or not. And I, uh ... I had pretty much convinced myself to get dressed and go to work. And I walked into the living room to shut the TV off for the morning news and a plane went through the first tower. So, uh ... I didn’t go to work that day.
Man 4: I was in Los Angeles, and I got the news. Someone called our apartment and then I turned on the radio and that’s how I found out about 9/11.
Man 5: On September 11th, I was in Long Island, New York. Uh ... I received word that planes hit the World Trade Center. I immediately called my father and my brother who work right near the Cen ... uh, the World Trade Center, and pretty much cried the entire morning with my mother ...hoping people I knew were OK.
I have a, a girlfriend of mine who lost her husband and four of her girlfriends lost their husbands. And they all lived in the same neighborhood, within walking distance of each other. That’s five families. A total of 12 kids between all of them. All fatherless.
Man 1: It was just kind of devastating because I have some friends that actually worked and went to school around that area. I was just concerned about where my friends and family were.
Woman 1: It felt like the, the Apocalypse. It felt like the world was ending all day.
Man 2: Then I turned on the TV, and, of course, like the rest of the world I became glued to it for several days.
Man 4: I’m still mourning. I’ve been down to Ground Zero once and I left bawling. So... it’s a sad day. That ... It’s still a sad day. I know that a lot of families miss their family members who left that morning on a regular day and never came home. So ... it’s pretty much still a sad place in my heart.
Man 1: I’m more alert now. I’m just more aware of things that happen around us.
Woman 1: You could tell on the streets that everyone was friendlier and everybody was nicer. Now things have kind of gone back to normal.
Man 5: We are Italian-Americans, so to say “I love you” to each other was a difficult thing. And it, after that, was not a difficult thing. So, it broke down a lot of barriers.
Man 3: For me, I really experienced being more one with the world in all its good and bad parts.
Man 4: 9/11 opened my heart more to the pain and suffering of people that I don’t know. And that’s always a good place to be at. You know? Caring for someone other than yourself for a change.
Man 6: I have a friend who I’ve known for a few years, and we’d just hang out together. And he began to feel very uncomfortable when he was in the subway that there was something dreadfully wrong. He came up out of the subway then, right at the foot of the World Trade towers, which was his normal stop, and the air was filled with smoke and ash and paper and everything that was flying around that day. And from behind him, he heard a voice saying, “They’re bombing the World Trade towers. You need to leave now.” And he turned around and it was this older gentleman who also works in the neighborhood, who my friend recognized from his years in the neighborhood. They would always just bump into each other like, at a café or a diner, having lunch. And the way my friend described it, they would always just sort of, like, tip their hat at each other, you know, just sort of salute each other on the street and there’d never really been any words passed between them. But because they were both there every day, they had...they had come to recognize each other. My friend was very relieved to ... to see this guy, and said, “Oh, it’s you. Oh, well, let’s get out of here,” and took a step towards him. And the man said, “No, son. I have to stay here, but you have to go now.” And my friend was confused, and he said, “No, come on. It’s dangerous. Let’s go.” And the man very sternly then said, “No, son. I have to stay here, but you have to go now.” And in response, my friend just, like, took a few steps back and began to turn away, to run away, and at that very instant ... landing gear from the airplane came flying down out of the sky and landed on top of this man and killed him where Brandon had just been standing a moment before. It’s very sad and very powerful and ... It was a tough day.