United 93
I finally got around to seeing "United 93" this weekend. I'd planned to see it last weekend, but I had to work. Now, thankfully, I have the whole weekend off, much needed after squinting at a computer screen 8 days straight for 6 hours at a time.
I went to the mall first and got my brother the new Tool cd for his birthday. I love Tool, and the new song "Vicarious" is fucken wicked, as usual. Love ya, Maynard. My brother likes them too, so he should enjoy it. I parked myself in the food court and had a little Chinese, browsed for awhile, then headed to the theater. With nothing but a box of Junior Caramels and about a 1/4 full cup of coffee for company, I sat down to watch the movie.
The movie was really good. No bells and whistles, no big stars, just a very straightforward, blow-by-blow account of what happened on September 11th, 2001. The movie started off with the terrorists praying in a hotel room, readying themselves for their suicide mission(s).
You know how a lot of people always say they'll never forget where they were the day JFK was assassinated? I missed that by a little over a year, I wasn't born until 1964, so I can't make that claim. But I can most definitely say that I will never forget where I was and exactly how I felt on September 11th, 2001. I had just started working at my previous job. I had been there for a week. And I remember how beautiful that day was, how bright and blue the sky was. It was almost as if it had been hand-picked to contrast the horrible things that happened that day. I was sitting at my desk working, and one of the girls, who was listening to the news on the radio, said that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, and another girl working beside me said, "See, that's why I don't like flying." We all thought it had just been a tragic accident and nothing else, like I guess most people did. My brother (the one I bought the birthday cd for, as a matter of fact) worked in the same area as I did, and he was coming downtown to meet me and I was going to show him my new workplace. I went down on my break and there were a lot of tvs in the area, and that's where I saw the burning towers, the smoke, and tons of people were crowding around watching too, everyone trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Eventually, of course, we all discovered what had happened, and I remember being truly afraid. I worked downtown in the midst of a lot of office towers, and Toronto is not that far from New York City. I pictured planes flown by mad religious fanatics ploughing through the windows, and of course, nobody could really work, or think about anything else that day. My brother eventually showed up; he'd been stuck on the subway because they had closed the subways down. We walked around, going, what the fuck, what the fuck is going on here? It was amazing how the whole world just kind of stopped that day. These terrorists had altered the whole Western world that day, in the course of about what ... two or three hours?
I'm sure all of you remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11th too.
All of us were given the go-ahead to leave work at about 12 or 1:00 that day. My husband and his brother came down to pick me up. Everyone had left work that day. My husband was off work at that time, attending the Toronto Film Festival as he does every year. They had cancelled all the screenings that day. He has a special place in his heart for New York City. We'd been there a couple of times together and we both loved it. As he drove us home, and the reports were continuing on the radio and we were telling each other where we were and what we were doing when it happened, I looked over and saw a tear fall down his cheek as he was driving. We were talking about how the towers had collapsed and how fucking terrible, how unbelievable, it all was.
When we got home, we sat around watching the omnipresent CNN news reports, then decided to get away and took my daughter, who was a little over 2 years old at that time, to the park. We sat there on the bench watching her play and just talked about how awful it all was.
I remembered all this as I watched this movie. United 93 was the plane that was brought down because the passengers rushed the cockpit and prevented the terrorists from reaching their destination, which was the White House. I sat there wondering how I would feel if I would have been one of the people on that plane, or on any of that planes that day. I just hope those passengers got in a few good punches or kicks in the balls to those fuckers who took over the plane before it went down. I know I was rooting for them, even though I knew what was going to happen.
I went to the mall first and got my brother the new Tool cd for his birthday. I love Tool, and the new song "Vicarious" is fucken wicked, as usual. Love ya, Maynard. My brother likes them too, so he should enjoy it. I parked myself in the food court and had a little Chinese, browsed for awhile, then headed to the theater. With nothing but a box of Junior Caramels and about a 1/4 full cup of coffee for company, I sat down to watch the movie.
The movie was really good. No bells and whistles, no big stars, just a very straightforward, blow-by-blow account of what happened on September 11th, 2001. The movie started off with the terrorists praying in a hotel room, readying themselves for their suicide mission(s).
You know how a lot of people always say they'll never forget where they were the day JFK was assassinated? I missed that by a little over a year, I wasn't born until 1964, so I can't make that claim. But I can most definitely say that I will never forget where I was and exactly how I felt on September 11th, 2001. I had just started working at my previous job. I had been there for a week. And I remember how beautiful that day was, how bright and blue the sky was. It was almost as if it had been hand-picked to contrast the horrible things that happened that day. I was sitting at my desk working, and one of the girls, who was listening to the news on the radio, said that a plane had just crashed into the World Trade Center, and another girl working beside me said, "See, that's why I don't like flying." We all thought it had just been a tragic accident and nothing else, like I guess most people did. My brother (the one I bought the birthday cd for, as a matter of fact) worked in the same area as I did, and he was coming downtown to meet me and I was going to show him my new workplace. I went down on my break and there were a lot of tvs in the area, and that's where I saw the burning towers, the smoke, and tons of people were crowding around watching too, everyone trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. Eventually, of course, we all discovered what had happened, and I remember being truly afraid. I worked downtown in the midst of a lot of office towers, and Toronto is not that far from New York City. I pictured planes flown by mad religious fanatics ploughing through the windows, and of course, nobody could really work, or think about anything else that day. My brother eventually showed up; he'd been stuck on the subway because they had closed the subways down. We walked around, going, what the fuck, what the fuck is going on here? It was amazing how the whole world just kind of stopped that day. These terrorists had altered the whole Western world that day, in the course of about what ... two or three hours?
I'm sure all of you remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11th too.
All of us were given the go-ahead to leave work at about 12 or 1:00 that day. My husband and his brother came down to pick me up. Everyone had left work that day. My husband was off work at that time, attending the Toronto Film Festival as he does every year. They had cancelled all the screenings that day. He has a special place in his heart for New York City. We'd been there a couple of times together and we both loved it. As he drove us home, and the reports were continuing on the radio and we were telling each other where we were and what we were doing when it happened, I looked over and saw a tear fall down his cheek as he was driving. We were talking about how the towers had collapsed and how fucking terrible, how unbelievable, it all was.
When we got home, we sat around watching the omnipresent CNN news reports, then decided to get away and took my daughter, who was a little over 2 years old at that time, to the park. We sat there on the bench watching her play and just talked about how awful it all was.
I remembered all this as I watched this movie. United 93 was the plane that was brought down because the passengers rushed the cockpit and prevented the terrorists from reaching their destination, which was the White House. I sat there wondering how I would feel if I would have been one of the people on that plane, or on any of that planes that day. I just hope those passengers got in a few good punches or kicks in the balls to those fuckers who took over the plane before it went down. I know I was rooting for them, even though I knew what was going to happen.
posted by emily pound at 2:30 PM
3 Comments:
I was in Ireland, visiting my folks while on study-leave. I was sitting at their kitchen table doing an advanced tax calculation, and my mum came in and told me a plane had crashed into the WTC. At that point everyone thought it was an accident, but I went and watched the news anyway, as it all unfolded.
lol...seems like we have alot in common Emily...Tool is my favorite band...check out my myspace
http://www.myspace.com/andreadetroit
I was in my 2nd floor master bedroom..., the beautiful one with creamy walls, dusty rose woodwork and roses I had painstakingly stenciled around the top, in my funky Victorian house, the only place I feel 'safe' in the world. My children had crawled into my huge warm bed to cuddle with me like beautiful sleek puppies. The sky outside was an achingly blue color with the windows open and the sweet Iowa breeze wafting in. I knew we had to get up and get to school but I was delaying because of the sheer joy and delight of my little "puppy pile" (as I've always called it).
My husband called to tell me to turn on the news because a plane had just hit one of the towers--he drives for a living and wanted to know if there was more detail on t.v. than the radio....., I was watching and talking to him when I saw the second plane hit. God, it still hurts when I see it in my minds eye! My kids didn't understand why I kept crying while I was readying them for school. At that point it hadn't been speculated even, that it was terrorists...., I took them to school--late because I couldn't leave the news....., It was never so hard to let them out of my sight and then when it was declared a terrorist attack, all I wanted was to get them back home. I was torn all day (and still am) about my decision to let them be in school that day..., but I knew the couple of blocks between us wouldn't have made any difference were we a target. I kept thinking that they should have normalcy until we all could make some sense of this enormity.
I spent that whole day pacing, pacing. The impotency was staggering. The reports of other planes being hijacked. The Pentagon. I remember praying for flight 93 before they crashed..., there were conflicting reports going on...., they had regained control, they were being redirected to who knew where, they were going to be shot down by our own flyers as pre-emptive strike....., they were down......, God, no.
I watched that day as the towers imploded. I still cry. The safe little bubble I had endeavored so hard to place around my 'people', my loves..., was no longer safe. I had spent my early life physically, emotionally & mentally abused, in poverty, without the normal love that most people take for granted...., I survived and by dint of sheer will, built, morsel by morsel, the only safety, love and family I've ever known, only to have my 'reality' swept away that day.
I too, wonder about how I would've managed if I were aboard that plane. Those people are the most incredible heroes I can imagine and I always choke up when I think about them. May God Bless and Keep all our Heroes of that day.
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