I’ve lived in Northern Ontario for most of life and, to be honest, it is a pretty insulated area when it comes to natural disasters and terrorist activities. Apart from the odd flood and forest fire, our biggest concern is figuring how many inches of snow will fall during the next snow storm. When it comes to terrorism, luckily, it is something that we have only ever lived through the images and sounds that we see on TV. Even though I was over 1500 kilometres from either New York City or Washington at the time, September 11th 2001 is the day that terrorism really hit home for me and probably for a number of other people that live in Northern Ontario and in other parts of Canada.
On this, the tenth anniversary of 9/11, there will be hundreds of people with much better writing skills than I that will write blogs and stories about the events of that day. There will be others who were either involved or impacted directly by the attacks that will write stories that will be gripping, tragic and insightful. As for me, well...here are my most distinct memories about that day:
· Like many people, my first call after the magnitude of what was happening that day set in was to my Mom. Strange how when you are observing something that shakes you to your core your instinct is to reach out to someone whose voice has comforted you in the past. Although I was 31 at the time, it was almost as if I needed to hear my Mom tell me that everything was going to be ok. Truth be told, she was as shocked as I was so it was a short, choppy conversation but I remember feeling better after hearing her voice.
· I remember watching part of the coverage that afternoon with two co-workers on a small 14 inch TV in an industrial trailer where we could get a TV signal…it was as quiet in that room as it ever was when all three of us were in the same general area.
· I vividly remember sitting at home that evening, watching coverage on TV and thinking that I was glad that I did not have any children because I would have no idea how to explain that day to a child.
· I remember a local reporter getting the number of a former Timmins resident who was working in New York City at the time and calling the individual on his cell phone to get a “scoop” story. All he managed to do was speak to a terrified individual who really had nothing more to give to the story than what we already knew and had seen on TV. It was small town, bush league journalism at its worst.
In the days following 9/11
· I was never a big fan of George W. Bush when he was President but I will never forget his words through a bullhorn at Ground Zero surrounded by firemen when, in response to someone who yelled that he could not hear the President, he said: “…I hear you, the rest of the world hears you and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon”.
· To this day, the photo of “Falling Man” haunts me when I see it in a media story either on TV or online. A chilling reminder of what the people stuck high in those towers must have gone through.
· I’ll always remember David Letterman’s somber monologue at the start of his first show following the attacks or the strange yet compelling sight of CBS news anchor Dan Rather breaking down in tears of anger when talking about the attacks later in the show.
· I also remember how surreal it was that day when several of the specialty channels such as TSN and Much Music were showing live feeds from news channels and other networks such as The Food Network went off air completely that day.
Looking back today
· Many people mention that Canada was not directly impacted by the events of 9/11. Tell that to the families of the Canadian soldiers that have lost their lives in the “War on Terror”.
· Are we safer today than we were on 9/11? Well, there are still major terror networks throughout the world and if they had the resources, creativity and patience to plan and execute the attacks of 9/11 than perhaps we should never feel totally comfortable.
· I recently watched some of the live coverage from that day on Youtube. It was fascinating to listen to initial coverage and interesting to note all of the inaccuracies in the coverage amidst the confusion of an event of this magnitude.
Have a good and safe week everyone!
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