The 9/11 events through the eyes of a Quotidian being

Naturally, some stories stay with us long after they're told and some disappear into the dark abyss of discarded thoughts and emotions.

Someone very close to me told me their experience of the 9/11 attacks, a first hand account and also told me the stressful experience that followed the attack, which is why I've decided to share this story with you.

This man had just moved to America after trials of financial instability and a blooming family. His dream was the same as many immigrants who travel to America. Their collective dream of achieving name for themselves and a life that would be more rewarding than the one back home. Being an immigrant myself, I understood the appeal. America was always propagandised as a country of limitless opportunities and an easy way out from the problems one faced at home. Therefore, even after the 9/11 attacks, which led to extreme discrimination against his own kind, he didn’t leave.

But he believes that he really became an American when he suffered alongside them as their home was under attack.

The man belonged to the middle-class sector of America and money was scarce, so he set out to take the subway for his job on the morning of the 11th. He bid farewell to his wife and a newly born son with a kiss on the head not knowing that today he would never be the same again. Looking back, he said that he would not envision a life without the presence of the incident. The subway was busy as usual, and the man felt at ease at the familiarity of the travel.

Something happened though, the trains were slightly delayed, and people were growing impatient, but the man kept his composure. When I had asked why he was not getting annoyed, He chuckled and replied that his wife had unknowingly trained him to be more patient. Boomer Humour.

Towards the end they did reach the world Trade Centre station. The man’s job was in the vicinity of the world Trade centre and the station was already in shambles, but he didn’t really acknowledge it. On the foreground of Manhattan, Panic had spread tremendously because the first plane had already hit the Twin Towers. The man unknowingly walked to the middle ground and saw destruction. He specifically remembers only thinking three words which were ‘Oh my God’

He remembers feeling numb but also overwhelmed. The noise around him amplified, and his curiosity and the pursuit of safety was abandoned. He looked up onto the skyscraper, which was now burning, and the screams grew painful to hear. He should stop, maybe even slow down, but his mind couldn’t comprehend the possibility and the colossal amount of fear that was present in the air. So, he stared.

Until the 2nd plane had hit. He didn’t really see the plane hit the building but heard a deafening sound which left his ears ringing. Stopping his story, he turned to me and asked me a very important question. Being the smartest of the species, why are we so terrible at practicing self-preservation? Going on a tangent, this question made me have a lot of sleepless night studying the scientific reason as well as the contemporary reason for the way we behave. It raised into more questions like ‘does having intelligence make us more susceptible to accept death or does it reduce the primal instincts we possess from our beastly ancestors?

The man had no intention to run or hide, just stand there and witness the tragedy that was incomprehensible. But time didn’t stop for him as the foundation of the building started falling apart. As the building descended dust particles were kicked up into the air painting the sky black. For a moment, people felt abandoned and lost and the man said the sky that was blanketed with the dust particles of destruction had metaphorically shown that hope was lost, and God had abandoned them.

It’s common knowledge that a tragedy can affect individuals very differently but on the bustling streets on New York there was a unity of emotions, fear and sorrow.

Phone lines dead, transportation blocked and closed. People frantically trying to get out of Manhattan, but the man stayed put, hearing. Stories of how even the cruises were filled of people, how the damage had caused car crashes and how the rest of the world had momentarily gone into a big panic including violent wars in the name of America. Naturally, not all of it was true but in the moment of devastation people were able to believe anything.

After a while, there was a train to a place, a place where connections hadn’t been severed from the rest of the world. Where people could finally go home. The man rushed to get into the train and the moment he landed, he took out his phone and called home. After the first ring, his wife picked up and her voice, he recognised, was overwhelmed with emotions and her pitch kept changing but the man had never felt happier. All that he experienced dropped from his shoulders at the relief of going home. Soon after, he had found a mode of transport that took him home and that night, he had prayed to God to lessen the pain people were going through and was thankful for his life. The man said to me that he’d never taken his life for granted after that.

The tragedy of 9/11 was one of the most prominent at acks that changed the world forever. The horrific in idents caused 2977 deaths and the damage took 291 days to clean up. It is our duty to constantly respect the struggles a country had to go through to become the way it is. Due to the hyper exposure, we always hear the experiences of individuals who hold power, but it is equally important to view from the nomad’s perspective as they make up our history. So, this is my contribution to our history