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September 11th, 2001 - 25 years ago

Headlines September 11 History Remembrance

9/11 occurred 25 years ago today.

September 11th, 2001 took the lives of thousands of Americans who were going about their daily routine at work or on a flight.

25 years ago today, I was a junior in a public high school in a small town in the midwest. Fittingly, I was in U.S. History class when it happened. We were taking a test that day. Another teacher walked into the classroom doorway and whispered to the history teacher what had happened. The teacher responded with “One historical moment at a time. We have a test.” and closed the door.

We all finished our tests and turned them in. Once they were all collected, the teacher turned on the TV and we all watched the news unfold, including the collapsing of the towers. That’s what we did for most of the day in the rest of the classes. There was a rumor about being sent home early but it never came about because it was a logistical difficulty to contact parents. I hugged a friend who was worried about her dad on a business flight that day. I had a computer class and the Internet was crawling so much it was unusable (and we were used to slow Internet access back then).

Eventually, we left school at the normal time. I rode the bus home. I walked the long driveway to the house, thinking about the day’s events. As I was walking, I looked to the sky knowing that all planes had been grounded. Being an hour away from Chicago, the sky usually had a plane criss-crossing the sky but at that moment there was nothing. As I was nearly to the house, still looking up, I spotted a plane very high up heading to Chicago. It was just a speck but it was definitely there. I assumed it was a military plane scanning for threats with RADAR as fighter jets had been scrambled to defend Chicago if necessary.

My Dad was at home. He was sleeping on the couch. He worked nights. I don’t really remember talking to him about the day or the news. I think we went outside and did yardwork when he woke up shortly after I got home.

As a Marvel and Spider-Man fan, I was very excited for the first Spider-Man movie starring Tobey Maguire that was supposed to come out in November 2001. A trailer aired with Spider-Man chasing bank robbers in a helicopter before webbing them up between the World Trade Center Twin Towers. The trailer was taken down and the movie was delayed until May 2002.

Spotting the WTC in older movies brings you back to reality.

A couple of years ago, I was driving from the midwest to Washington D.C. I was taking a side road because the Pennsylvania Turnpike is very expensive. I was driving late at night and warily watching for deer or other critters to run in the road. I had already seen two. All of a sudden, around the next curve, there was a large sign for the Flight 93 memorial lit up by my brights. It was a sobering thought at 3 A.M. to reflect on what I knew of Flight 93.

This Summer, I made my first trip to New York City. My family visited the National September 11 Memorial & Museum and learned more details about the day and the events in New York, Flight 93, and at the Pentagon than I had before. It was a sad reflection. The size of the loss and destruction was incredible and so unnecessary.

Any person in leadership that does not try to improve diplomatic relations and prevent unnecessary death and destruction is a fool. Any fool that tries to exploit this day of rememberance for political points is a terrible human being.

Be kind, around the world.

Corey Fields
Author
Corey Fields
Lifelong Midwesterner (40+ years), rooftop solar owner since 2022, EV driver since 2023, gardener, and road-tripper. Writing about practical living, technology, and the places that make the Midwest home.

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The Great Lakes

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