09/11/01

In 2005 my sister Wendi and I ventured to New York City.  We took in the sights and sounds.  We ate delicious Ray's pizza--but I don't know if it was Original Ray's or Famous Ray's or Original Famous Ray's--I had no idea there was such controversy!!  We also saw a couple of plays on Broadway (Wicked being one of them-AMAZING!)...  

AND, most memorable of all, we visited Ground Zero.

The Iron Cross

Story board of the first WTC attack in 1993

The September 11, 2001 WTC attack

And the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11

(I don't have a picture of the Pentagon 9/11 storyboard...  But we can't forget that part.)

The hole that remained...It was very humbling to see this in person.

Ground Zero by Madame Tussauds wax museum in New York.

I remember what I was doing on the morning of September 11, 2001.  I was at work at Anderson Family Dental Care in Highland, Utah.  I was annoyed that the other assistant was late getting to work...again.  And then when she did show up, she was saying all this crazy stuff about planes crashing into buildings and terrorists.  I wasn't sure what to think.

But then my mom called me.  At work.  That's never a good sign.  She asked if I had heard the news.  I said yes--because by then I realized what my co-worker was saying was true.

We listened to the radio at work, so I heard when the towers fell.  But I wasn't able to see any news images until I got home from work that night.  It was one thing to hear things on the radio and see a few photos posted on the internet (this was pre-YouTube-remember?).  It was a whole other thing to see the actual videos and images on the news.  I remember that my heart felt sick.

That night I attended a church activity.  I didn't know if we were even still having it, but after all the things that had happened that day, I figured a church activity was probably the most comforting thing I could do.  

At the beginning of the activity we listened to our Prophet, President Gordon B Hinckley, give an address to the members of our church and to the whole world.  I will never forget the peace I felt when I heard his voice and his message.  It was the first time I felt peace that entire day.

Part of what he said was:  "Dark as is this hour, there is shining through the heavy overcast of fear and anger the solemn and wonderful image of the Son of God, the Savior of the World, the Prince of Peace, the exemplar of universal love, and it is to Him that we look in these circumstances.  It was He who gave His live that all might enjoy eternal life. ... May the peace of Christ rest upon us and give us comfort and reassurance and, particularly, we plead that he will comfort the hearts of all who mourn."

I can't believe it's been 10 years.  It has been good to be reminded to not forget 9/11/01.