Where were you on 9/11?

(Photo from the Intel Hub.)

I WAS, not surprisingly, burning the midnight oil at the office (I was still working as associate editor at Manila Standard then), and advancing some of my pages for the next issue.

As I was busy editing news pieces, the young proofreaders and layout artists who were glued to CNN, suddenly shouted, "Ma'am! Me plane na nag-crash sa Twin Towers!" I hurriedly arose from my seat and went over to the TV and saw the smoke billowing from one of the towers. Immediately I thought, and said aloud, "Terrorist yan."

(I don't know why I was so sure about it. The initial reports were saying it was a possible accident. But somehow I knew this was not just some airline pilot who suddenly lost control over his plane. The sky was just so blue, and the sun so bright, how could anyone fly a plane accidentally into the towers? And of all places, in New York's World Trade Center?!)

Even before I had the chance to text/call my editor in chief Jullie Yap Daza about what had just happened, the second plane crashed into the other tower. It was like watching a movie, and for some reason, today, it has become a slow-motion visual in my mind's eye. It was totally unbelievable, and yet I saw it happening right before my eyes. It chilled me. And of course, it confirmed my initial belief that this was the work of terrorists.

I immediately checked our wires for the stories that we would use, because for sure, we would have to remat the front page w/c had already been put to bed about an hour before. Everything after that was a blur. I was just running on automatic, and I remember Ms. Jullie and our publisher Andy del Rosario, rushing into the office not soon after, and managing the remat of the front page. (We later learned another plane also had crashed into the Pentagon and at a field in Pennsylvania - check the BBC Timeline of events here. I watched the two towers finally come crashing down, and it just silently shook me. "Why? Why? Why?" I thought to myself. It was just too terrible to watch and yet we were all glued to the TV.)

I finally went home to my flat very late in the evening, switched on the aircon and TV, and after a quick bath and change into my night clothes, settled into my bed. I kept switching channels between CNN and the BBC trying to find out more of what had just happened, and more importantly, who did it and why. I just kept absorbing all the reports and images being broadcast. I said a silent prayer for all the lives that had been lost, for sure there were many, because it was a work day, and it was morning in New York.

I don't know what time I finally slept, but I knew I still had the TV on, and when I woke up, the same images of the towers w/ the billowing smoke, w/c then finally came crashing down were still looping, then the other crashes at the Pentagon and Pennsylvania, but with a different news presenter this time. He/she - I don't remember anymore who was annotating the broadcast – was repeating the same reports and information we had already by then published in our paper that morning.

It would be a very weird week, and a few months. People just couldn't stop talking about it. We may not have been there in NY (or in Washington DC) where the unfortunate attacks happened, but the images remained vivid in our heads. Somehow, I too felt a sense of loss and was very disturbed about what happened. We were entering a strange phase in our lives as global citizens.

(Then US President Bush is told of the second plane that crashes into the WTC. Photo by Getty Images)

I later learned that a media colleague was still waiting word about her sister who was working at the Twin Towers at that time the planes crashed into them. I wrote in my column that I hoped that she would only receive good news about her sister. But in my mind I thought, I wished her and her family the courage to accept whatever result from their search may turn up.

A few months after, I was reading that security measures at the US airports were beefed up, w/ racial profiling at its extreme. Anyone who looked Middle Eastern was being asked to step to one side for further checking. Even some Filipinos had experienced some dustups w/ the US Immigration upon arriving at US airports as well.

(I had traveled to London only a few months after 9/11, and I was surprised that things were different at the Heathrow airport. After clearing immigration almost immediately upon landing, my media group was out the terminal. The only reminder of the terrorist attacks in the US, was the constant annoucement on the PA system as we were heading back to Manila after a week, for us to make sure we had our luggages w/ us all the time. I don't know if the situation is still the same there today since the terrorist bombings over there.)

After the attacks in the US, our malls and hotels went into hyperdrive - employing their own brand of security measures (the magic patpat for the malls, the bomb-sniffing K9 for the hotels). To this day, the practice continues and it's already automatic for us to just open our handbags, whenever we enter a department store and we pass through the establishment's security check.

10 years after, we have X-ray machines deployed in major airport terminals in our country. Whenever we take trips, we have to be at the airport at least 3 hrs before departure - for international flights - and two hours for domestic flights. Airline insurance surcharges have risen...but yes, we still keep flying.

We are more aware of our surroundings, eyeing bags or containers left to a side with suspicion, we constantly look at the people around us (of course, this is also to protect us from pickpockets), and treat security guards w/ more respect.

The 9/11 terrorist attacks may have changed all of us, making us take more precautions wherever we go, but we keep going. We have resumed our lives and our usual activities, but we still manage to enjoy ourselves and what the world has to offer us. And because of that, I know these evil terrorists have lost. We have suffered, but we keep moving forward.

Thank you Lord, for giving us the grace and courage to keep on living.

****
(NY firefighters raise the American flag at Ground Zero. Photo from the Cleveland Seniors.

According to TV5's news web site, Filipinos are among the least trusted nationalities since the US govt beefed up security policies after 9/11, often experiencing ethnic profiling. Read Interaksyon's special report "10 years after 9/11" here.

ABS-CBN News also has its own reports on the 9/11 anniversary on its website. Read here how they are commemmorating the event.

Here is also an interesting story from the New York Times, on Muslims coming of age in the decade after 9/11 : The 9/11 Decade.

As we all know, the situation in the Middle East has dramatically changed since 9/11 - I don't know if it is for the better. Former strongman Saddam Hussein of Iraq was captured and executed, Iran has become a rising power in the region, and just recently, Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 and other global terrorist attacks has been captured and killed as well, thanks to the leadership of US President Barack Obama.

We all hope that the latter would've weakened the Al Qaeda and its affiliates - but even today, New Yorkers have been alerted to a possible attack. Here in the Philippines, the authorities too are on heightened alert.

Pls. pray that tomorrow's 10th anniversary rites for 9/11 will be quiet and peaceful, and for the eternal repose of the souls of those who had perished.

(Aerial view of the Ground Zero Memorial by Raja Ramchandra.)

9/11...seven years after

WHERE were you when two planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City in 2001?

I was in the office, at Manila Standard, past 9 pm, advancing a special page so I wouldn't have to rush about the next day trying to beat the paper's deadline for the page to go to the printers. As is the usual in most newspaper offices, the TV was switched on, and stuck on CNN.

While buried nose deep in the stories I was editing, I heard a commotion in front of the TV set with most of our late-night staff chattering loudly about. "Ma'am me nag-crash na eroplano sa World Trade Center (Ma'am an airplane crashed into the World Trade Center)," was the response of one of the staff, when I asked what was happening.

So I approached the group and watched as black smoke was spiralling from one of the Twin Towers, a familiar landmark in New York. (It annoyed me some months after that when I had visited New York, I didn't even bother to tour the World Trade Center, as I wasn't much of a fan of skyscrapers really. I was more engrossed in the museums, Barnes & Noble, and watching plays on Broadway.)

Then CNN replayed the video of what looked like small plane crashing into one of the Twin Towers. I swear, my nape and arms got all clammy as a single thought popped into my head, "terrorists." I don't know what it was that made me immediately think it, because there have been accidents in the past of small-seater planes crashing into buildings. But maybe because it was New York City, and it was a beautiful sunny day, with the grey-colored Twin Towers standing tall in contrast against the azure sky. It could have been just another lovely day in the city, but cynic that I am, I just knew it couldn't be that perfect.

Soon after, as I continued monitoring CNN, another plane crashed into the other building. It looked like a jet. My hairs just stood on end, as I watched in horror like the other staff. This was real. It confirmed my notion that this was a terrorist attack. I immediately conferred with our night editor to remat the front page of next day's paper. Then our publisher and editor-in-chief came rushing in a few minutes after to oversee the paper's revision. It was back to business for us. As the night wore on, news about similar plane crashes came in, one in Pennsylvania, another at the Pentagon. We gathered all the wire stories and photos on the crashes. It was going to be a long night for us at the office.

When I finally got home, still fully wired from what had just happened, I switched on the TV set and tuned in to CNN. I just sat on my bed, transfixed at the images of the buildings, billowing smoke, and people falling out the windows. Not long after, the Twin Towers just collapsed like a house of cards. And I just sobbed in frustration, anger, and sadness. I prayed for those who died from the attacks, and beseeched the Lord's protection on those of us still living.

Seven years after, as I look back at the photos and watch the special news reports reflecting on that dreadful day, there is still a catch in my throat. More than 2,900 people died that day, most of the victims' bodies were never found. These tragedies may not have happened here in the Philippines, but we have all been affected by those terrorist acts. Our lives, habits, and customs changed almost instantly after that fateful day. We are reminded of 9/11 every time we go to the mall, ride the rail, or travel by plane, arrive in another foreign land.

Despite the heightened security during these dangerous times we're in, we are still here, soldiering on, and moving forward. That takes courage. And I am thankful that despite 9/11, we have not lost our nerve for living.