August 27, 2019
PUBLISHER’S CORNER
By Eloise Graham
Never Forget
It has been 18 years now, but I bet all of you can remember where you were on that beautiful sunny morning of 9/11. Jim and I were watching the news when the first plane hit. Stunned! Startled! As were the news anchors on the Today show. Small chit chat about some pilot hitting the building, probably in a small plane. Jim left for work, shaking his head wondering how some idiot could be that far off course, not see the big building in front of him. I left the room too, to go make the bed or do some dishes or who knows what… The TV was still on, but I had left the room.
The phone rang. It was Jim telling me to get back to the TV. Another plane hit the other tower. Something was seriously wrong. Maybe an attack or something. I watched in disbelief, as did most of America. But I had to leave to go to a doctor’s appointment. In the car, I heard about the plane at the Pentagon. In the waiting room at the doctor’s office, I learned of the plane in Pennsylvania. What was happening?
The next few days were filled with speculation, terror, heartbreak, heroism and still disbelief. We heard comments that the terrorists wanted to bring our big nation to its knees. Well, we were on our knees, in prayer. Solidarity and patriotism were strong. Our nation was strong. American flags began flying on almost every home, every day – not just special patriotic occasions. And our National Anthem… well, I remember a few weeks before the attack when it was sung at ballgames, the last few lines couldn’t be heard because the crowd was yelling to play ball. After 9/11, no one started cheering for the teams or the game until the song was completely sung.
Jim and I were in New York in the spring of 2001. We walked by the Twin Towers. Jim had been there years earlier and had plans to be inside one of the towers, but his meeting there was canceled because of a bomb explosion in the parking garage underneath. Later we would learn that the explosion had been a precursor to this attack.
In October of 2001, we went on a Mediterranean cruise. It had been planned much earlier in the year. Jim said he felt we were as safe there as anywhere. Prior to 9/11, the airport in Greece had been relatively unsecured. Now it was redoing its terminals for heightened security. Here in Davenport, how secure were we? We lived two blocks from Arsenal Island and downstream from a nuclear plant. Could the Quad Cities be a target for terrorism? Uncertainty was the new norm.
While on that cruise at our Port in Italy, six of us were walking past some street vendors hawking their wares. When they realized we were Americans they stood at attention, clicking their heels and saluting. They pointed to American flag lapel pins they were wearing and gave heartfelt condolences. Much of the world was in mourning with us.
That was eighteen years ago… doesn’t really seem that long. But we look at our grandchildren and great-grandchildren that were born after that. It has been almost two decades. A whole new generation only knows of it from the stories we tell. They really can’t experience the emotions we went through that month or the months to follow. Yet, it is a somber and sobering experience to many of them.
My daughter and her family went to New York this past summer. They visited the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. It was a very emotional time for them. At the time of the attack, one grandchild was 4 years old, one was 6 weeks old and the youngest had not yet been born. They were all deeply moved by the experience, asking their mom many questions; feeling saddened by the carnage and destruction revealed in the Memorial Museum.
Never forget.
