911
Sixty Minutes’ story about 911 took me back to that tragic day. Sixty Minutes reported that remains are still being identified in 2025. With new technology, more remains will continue to be identified. Once DNA is confirmed, family members are being notified. Unfortunately, many people’s remains are still unidentified.
I was director of a state college counseling center on my way to a student services meeting on 911. On September first in 2001 our college was in its second week of the fall semester. I had just heard a radio story about a plane hitting the World Trade Center. After the first plane hit, reporters told a story of a horrible accident.
On my way to the meeting, I noticed a group of students in a student lounge staring at a television. I stopped to ask if everyone was okay. At that moment we watched the live action together, in horror, as the second plane struck the second tower. The towers started to collapse. News reports showed innocent people screaming for help and jumping from windows.
Networks went into twenty-four-hour coverage cancelling all other programming. News reporters began to talk about terrorism. Every channel vied to be the one people watched with increasingly graphic descriptions.
Thousands of emergency responders answered the call to help 911 victims. We were all patriots together. I proudly flew my American flag.
There had been no attacks on American soil in many lifetimes. We had difficulty taking it in. How was it possible that a foreign power had penetrated United States’ perimeters? Then a third plane hit the Pentagon in Washington, DC. A fourth plane bound for our capital city was brought down by the hero passengers who did not want their plane, number four, to claim more innocent victims. Frantic messages went from the passengers of plane four to their families explaining their fate before they crashed in the countryside, killing terrorists and civilians alike.
Students, staff, and faculty were all shocked. We checked in with family and friends who were known to be in New York and Washington. My colleague volunteered with the Red Cross and went from Nebraska to New York to help family of the victims. I remained at work and along with other counselors, met with upset students, and talked with others who had connections to those lost when the Twin Towers fell and the Pentagon was hit.
Relatively early in the day, I directed staff to turn off the radio with its nonstop news reports and allow students to come to the counseling office as a quiet place to process their reactions. The day was such a difficult one. International students who had no connection with terrorism still worried that the community would blame them since they came from abroad.
We came together as a nation after 911. Although citizens are divided today, thanks to social media’s negative influence and political differences. I believe we can come together again. This time without a national tragedy or terrorist attack for motivation.
Take Action
Let’s begin with civil conversation about our commonalities over a cup of coffee/tea or cocoa. Each of us can make small gestures that can change our perspectives. Open a door for someone carrying groceries, take a meal to an elderly person, pay for someone behind you in a coffee shop drive through, volunteer time helping in a Library, to name a few. Begin today.
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