Off-Topic: September 11

This has nothing to do with any aspect of the game. It started as an addendum to the last post, but it's so far off topic, it needs it's own entry.

Today is the sixth anniversary of September 11.

I remember as a kid, my mom and her sisters and friends talking about JFK's assassination and "where were you when?" They all remembered where they were when they heard, what they were doing. They'd tell you about it. I heard the stories time and again, but I never understood how they could remember, or why they felt the need to talk about it, still.

I slept through the early morning attacks. I hadn't mastered the art of paying bills on time at the new apartment, and my phone got shut off that morning, though I wasn't aware of it. I woke up to the sound of someone pounding on my door. It was about an hour after the first plane went into the World Trade Center, and my mother was in a panic because she couldn't get in touch with me. By this time, a third plane had gone missing, and there were rumors of a fourth. That third plane crashed about 60 miles from my hometown, in a field in a town no one had ever heard of called Shanksville. Instead of explaining to me what was happening, my mother turned on my television. For about ten minutes, while I tried to wake up and assimilate what had and was happening, I was certain it was the end of the world. I remember the incredible silence of that day. People weren't out. The ones that were spoke in whispers. People cried in public. The next few days were the same. The only planes or helicopters you heard were military. That's one of the things that will always stand out to me. The quiet.

2,974 deaths are attributed to September 11, currently. That includes the firefighters who were first dispatched to the World Trade Towers, and one woman who worked blocks away from the towers, but died from cancer caused by inhaling dust and debris that day. That doesn't count the hijackers. They're not added to most death tolls. 40 people died in the crash of Flight 93. It's been said that plane was headed to the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. or one of several other targets in D.C. It flew directly over my parents' house, my apartment. Countless other homes, schools, populated areas. It crashed in a field in a town with one stop-light, at the edge of a line of trees. There's an auto junkyard nearby, a few scattered houses a little further off. If you go there now, one of the first things you notice about the place, is the quiet.

(Edit: Note: These are my own photos from the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, PA, from about a year ago. The memorial has changed since, and in fact, the mementos left by visitors change often. When the fence on which they hang gets full, each item is catalogued and preserved for a more permanant memorial.)