9-11

September 11, 2001 is a day that probably any born in 1994 or earlier can not and will not forget. Living on the West Coast on that day meant that many of the events of that day were already happening before we were awake. My first memory of that day was the clock radio alarm going off and the voice of the morning radio host saying, "The FAA has just closed all American airs space." Trying to wake up, I was confused. It was not April Fool's day, so the host was not making some kind of odd joke. I quickly ran down stairs and turned on the television and began to have some sense of the horror of the day.

A bit later in the morning I received two phone calls that underlined for me the seriousness and impact the hijacking of those four planes would have. The first call came from a friend who worked for Morgan Stanley. On a normal day, Morgan Stanley had 2700 employees working in one of the towers of the World Trade Center complex. My friend quickly told me that she had been sent home from a local Morgan Stanley office. She then told me words that felt like a baseball to the stomach. She said, "Lloyd, I talk to those people every day." Though I lived thousands of miles from New York, the terrorist attacks felt very close.

Not much later I received another phone call. A male voice asked me, a pastor, to give him at least one good reason why he should take out every Muslim he saw that day. His anger was real and intense. The events of 9-11 were creating reactions of fear, sorrow, and anger. That night a mosque 20 miles from our home was vandalized.

Ten years later, I still find myself feeling emotions when I see video clips or read accounts of the events. 9-11 is what historian call a generational marker. It is an event that leaves an imprint in the lives of many. Yesterday I was directed to a video clip of a man whose was to have been the pilot of American Airlines Flight 11 that day. Flight 11 was the first plane to hit the World Trade Center. Though the clip is 15 minutes long, I think it is worth the investment of your time.


In My Seat