This past week and especially the last 24 hours have been filled with ceremonies, pictorials, memorials to those who died on 9/11/01. It has been ten years since that fateful day. Do you remember where you were when you first found out? I was taking an early morning walk and Mitchell Henderson called me. We both attended Word of Life Church (aka Grace and Truth Fellowship) in Greenville, SC. The church leadership, as directed from the sister church – Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) in Spindale, NC, did not condone televisions in the homes of regular members. Mitchell had heard about the events on his job and called to let me know. The first plane had hit but not the second one. I asked him if the tower had collapsed yet and then commented that it sounded like terrorists. As far as my work schedule for that day, it fell apart as no one wanted to talk business. Everyone was following the events and the developments across this nation. I did not have a working television in my home and had to catch up-dates elsewhere.
The day was a Tuesday. Word of Life Church had Tuesday night fellowship meetings and many of us gathered at the church and watched the events unfolding and videos of the towers collapsing in the school building on “monitors”. I distinctly remember standing behind NB and watching over her shoulder as the scenes were replayed on the screen. I turned away as the scenes were filled with pictures of the jumpers who leapt off the Tower in order not to be burned alive. All of these scenes became part of the story and etched in our memories- probably forever. Who can forget?
The air waves have been filled with stories of tragic loss. Last night, as I viewed a movie about Flight 93 I was stuck by the many conversations that passengers were able to have with their relatives before the plane was crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The passengers were able to avert another terrorist victory because they received information from those calls to relatives. That was an interesting piece of the puzzle.