9/11: My memories

By Simon Wright (Personal piece)

I WENT to bed on Monday September 10 2001 in a normal world.  Not much was happening in the world to be honest, certainly nothing out of the ordinary.  24 hours later and everything had changed.  The world would never be the same again.  We had to face with a new threat in our lives, terrorism.  By the end of September 11, 2001 – thousands of innocent lives had been taken in one of the biggest mass murders ever known to man.  As it was broadcast live all over the world on television, it had a massive impact which affected all of us.  Now, a decade on from that dark day, I want to share my memories of that day and how I dealt with witnessing on television such an appalling loss of life.

     Tuesday September 11 2001 started as a bright, sunny day.  Only a week earlier, I had started at Secondary School in Wolverton, Milton Keynes.  Already, I felt I was struggling with the extra demand of lessons and the ridiculous amount of early homework I was getting in the term.  Also, it didn’t help when you had Maths lessons with a guy who couldn’t speak a clear word of English if his life depended on it.  As it turned out, I was in that lesson, totally oblivious to the devastation that was just occurring in America.  Yep, I was doing some silly mathematical equation when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Centre.

     With the homework I had and needed doing, I went home at the 3pm dismissal time and walked home for a busy night in the books.  If I was lucky, I might be able to see Liverpool’s first match back in the UEFA Champions League against Boavista on the doomed ITV Sports Channel, but the work needed doing.  Strangely enough, I decided to do some Religious Studies homework, with the topic being some basic research on the six main religions in the world.  A pretty boring task, but I had to meet the new standards.

     My mum came home from her teaching assistant job at the local First School and she looked concerned and asked me whether I had heard about the plane crash in America?  I looked at her, a bit confused.  I thought back to Concorde crashing in Paris a year earlier and hoped the ‘Supersonic’ jet hadn’t had another major accident.  She turned on the television to BBC News and the pictures remain vivid to me today.  Seeing replays of both towers of the World Trade Centre on fire was a massive shock.  As I tried to understand what had happened through the BBC Breaking News strap, it was clear the Religious Studies homework would not be completed tonight.  I wasn’t going to be in the right frame of mind.  Then, I gasped in horror as I saw replays of people hanging out of windows, trapped in the burning towers, knowing that they were faced with the probability of being burnt to a crisp or jumping to their deaths.  Next, the video of the two towers collapsing was shown to the entire world and I simply could not believe my eyes what I was seeing.  Surely this was no accident!

     That evening, I watched an ITN News special, presented by the legendary Sir Trevor McDonald and I struggled to comprehend the day’s events as it was replayed on the broadcast.  I didn’t feel sick or anything, just generally numb and confused.  How could this happen and more so, who was responsible for this disgusting act?  I must admit, my first thought was Iraq was responsible, but once the Al-Qaeda name was ran around the news, it started to make more sense.  I remember having a 72-minute phone conversation with one of my school friends on the day’s tragic events, but I don’t remember much of that conversation.  By that stage, nothing else mattered to me on that day.  I knew I had witnessed a life-changing moment and it would have a direct impact on everyone’s life, for many, through no fault of their own.

     My brother, and entertainment expert for this website, Jason Wright spoke to me about his memories of the day and the implications of what was to come for the world.  He was ten years old and had just started third year at a middle school around the same area where I was with secondary school.  “I heard nothing about 9/11 until I got home, as mobile phone breaking news was non-existent in this day.  My first emotion was; was it really happening and I felt really scared watching the pictures.  I do remember Kay Burley and Jeremy Thompson presenting Sky News and their voices as the devastating pictures came in said it all really.  As for going to war with Afghanistan, I always felt it was a grave mistake and let the US go in and do the job, without our help.  Finally, my deepest symphonies go out to the families and friends of the bereaved.  I feel justice has been done with the death of Al-Qaeda’s ringleader back in May, but ultimately, it won’t bring back his victims and my thoughts are with you on what is bound to be a poignant day on Sunday.”

     Ultimately, I can only echo those last thoughts of my brother.  It will be a tough day for the families’ victims, but hand-in-hand, the world will stand on Sunday to remember America’s darkest day and remember those innocent lives, so cruelly taken away.

R.I.P to the victims of 9/11 in New York, Washington and Pittsburgh – You will not be forgotten, ten years on.