Remembering September 11, 2001

“On September 11, 2001, I found out a different kind of horror. I was in elementary school at the time, everyone evacuated the building and my friend Robert was crying. When I asked him what happened, he responded, ‘The Twin Towers were taken down. My parents are dead.’ Sometimes, horror stories come as terror attacks. Ever since then, my world has never been the same. We all live in constant fear of being attacked again. I’ll never forget September 11, 2001.” – Mohammed

“On September 11, 2001, I was safe living in North Carolina at a hotel where I did the night audit accounting. I was vegetarian and learning from the Harikrishnans. I saw the plane hit on TV (the second one) and I collapsed on my knees, upset in my room. I began writing to Senators, offering solutions for how to handle September 11. I also called a local Muslim committee to see what they thought and suggested and added it to my letters.” – Timothy

“On September 11, 2001, I was at my job in the office in midtown Manhattan. My boss had a TV in his office, and he was watching the breaking news, showing the Twin Towers going down. There was no train service to Brooklyn that day and I had to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge with lots of people and then I took the bus back home.” – D.K.

“On September 11, 2001, I was sleeping in and heard the bang of the plane. It woke me up. My roommate told me to come to watch the news and I tried to make sense of what happened. I then reached out on the phone to my daughter’s father who was working in Brooklyn, but there was no cell service because everyone was using their phones at the same time trying to locate loved ones. I drove around Staten Island and could see the smoke from the island. It was devastating.” – Allison