Now that it’s been 10 years, it seems like everyone wants to know “where were you on 9/11?” Well, here’s my story:
On September 11, 2001, I was in Peru. I spent that day on a boat in Lake Titicaca, to be exact, which has a hilarious name and is the lake with the highest elevation in the world. It was a gloriously sunny day, but not hot, and I fell asleep and got really sunburned.
On the drive back into Puno, we saw brightly-colored Peruvian newspapers with pictures of burning buildings and large lettering indicating that there had been a plane crash in New York, and and some hours later we learned that the U.S. had been attacked – what?? It did not seem possible that something so terrible had happened back home. Shouldn’t my spidey sense have told me something was wrong? It all seemed very unreal, and it was only after exchanging e-mails with friends and family that I believed it. The events of that day did not even mess up our return flight – we were not scheduled to go home until 9/20, and by that time the flights were back to normal.
A close friend saved newspapers and a videotape of the events that day, so I could watch it when I got home. I hadn’t even seen the attacks all the way through at that point, and didn’t really understand the sequence of events. I watched the tape, and tried to imagine being in Seattle on that day, rather than 5500 miles away. I pictured hearing about the airplanes on NPR when my alarm woke me up, and going to turn on the TV. I imagine that I would have grabbed a phone to call my loved ones, and curled up on the couch with a blanket to watch in disbelief.
I will never be a part of the collective 9/11 experience. I will never feel the initial uncertainty of not knowing if it was a mistake or an attack or even a hoax. Maybe because I didn’t see it live, and I wasn’t around for 9 days following to watch the 24-hour news coverage, I was somewhat distanced from the panic and fear that has led to so many changes in our lives – some small (like NFL players wearing flags on their helmets) and some large (like the erosion to civil liberties). Intellectually, I understand all of the issues, but my emotions are less acute then they otherwise might be.
I ache for those who have lost loved ones, both on September 11 and in the years following, as a result of the wars or terrorism or illness caused by being a First Responder. I am grateful not to have been a witness to the events 10 years ago, but I also feel like I missed out on something. I am a bit of an outsider.
Have Chair, Will Travel 