Where Were You On 9/11?

I am sure most people have been asked that question, at some point in their lives. Large scale events, both positive and negative serve as memory markers going forward through time. The events of 9/11 certainly qualify as both large scale and in this case extremely negative.

It is hard to believe that ten years have passed since the attacks on both New York City and Washington, DC. It truly does seem like it just happened a few years ago. While this may not qualify as a strict baseball/sports post, I think it is appropriate considering the impending anniversary.

On 09/11/2001, my then fiancee (now wife) and I were asleep in our house in Florida. Aside from being a bit lazy on that morning, we were also sleeping in to prepare for our respective shifts later in the day. My mother, who is prone to overreacting and/or embellishing details from time to time, called the house just after the first plane hit the WTC.

I let the call go to voice mail (yes, we still had a stand alone message recorder which allowed the user to hear the message as it was being recorded) and I went from half asleep to wide awake. My mother was freaking out for lack of a better term. I couldn't make out what she was saying completely, but she was under the impression that the USA was being attacked and that the unknown attacker was blowing up all of NYC.

Not believing what I was hearing, I got out of bed and turned the TV on in the living room. Needless to say, I sat on the couch, dumbfounded at what was occurring for the next four hours before I had to get ready for work. The flood of emotions that I felt was like nothing else I have ever experienced. Watching the towers fall, hearing about the Pentagon and later, about the crash in Pennsylvania was unfathomable.

My wife and I are both Police Officers, if I failed to mention that before. Granted, we both work in a smaller town in a different State, but the bond amongst all Officers is strong. Whenever we hear about a line of duty death, it is as though it was a close friend. It may sound like a cliche, but we are all "brothers/sisters" in the law enforcement community. There is also a natural rivalry between Police Officers and Firefighters. But, deep down, we are all first responders and we also have a similar, less publicized bond.

Knowing how Police and Fire respond to disasters, you just knew, watching the disaster unfold, that there were Officers and Firefighters among the casualties.

So, off to work we went with heavy hearts for our fellow first responders, the innocent civilians and the country as a whole.

That shift was surreal. I have never seen our city so quiet. There were no vehicles on the roadways, no air traffic and no businesses open. As a result, people stayed home (and no doubt watched television of the developing story).

We were on alert, because at the time no one was sure if the attacks were over, or where the next one would unfold. Then, to add insult to injury, there was the "anthrax" scare and the dozens of calls for service that were generated from "suspicious white powder".

To a lesser extent, the sports world was put on hold (appropriately). Not having that escape for a few days or weeks was bizarre. It was a reflection of how intertwined the sports world is with our daily lives.

This feeling of foreboding lasted for quite a while. Even as the events ended and more information was learned, it was hard to shake that paranoid feeling that something else was brewing. I guess that is the goal of terrorism, in a nutshell.

What was interesting throughout all of this was the overwhelming outpouring of support from our community locally, as well as the outpouring of support nationally. I have never seen that level of patriotism before. No where was that more evident then at the myriad of sporting events around the country, in the weeks that followed, as we all tried to make sense of what happened.

While people still feel patriotic deep down, the outward signs of patriotism and national pride, like our collective fears of another attack, have slowly moved to the back of our minds, in the years that have passed. We are once again, distracted by our personal lives and the day to day grind, if you will.

Simply put, we are very lucky to live in this country and I think we sometimes take our freedom for granted. It is a wonderful gift, our way of life, but it is also fragile and fleeting. That is what 9/11 taught me. It can be taken away in an instant.

I hope all of you have a moment or two on the ten year anniversary to say a quiet prayer, or to just spend a few moments in quiet reflection, thinking about all of the people and families that were affected by the attacks. Oh, and while you are doing that, also take a moment to be thankful for what you have.