Remembering September 11, 2001

My memory is always shaky (which is one of the reasons I blog), but let me see what I can remember about 9-11-01. I first heard the news on the car radio on the way to Bradley's campus. There was mention that an airplane had hit the world trade center. I thought at the time it was an accident, much like when the military plane hit the Empire State Building in the 1940s. As the day progressed I got more information about the entire event (in part due to phone calls from Karen, and in part from a snowy TV set someone set up in the chemistry department). I remember not believing Karen when she said one of the towers collapsed. I also remember having a planning meeting for a general chemistry first exam somewhere in the building as it was being renovated and finding it pretty hard to focus. I felt a lot of fear about what the future would hold for me and my family. The price of gas went up to $4/gallon in places - it took me a long time to stop at one particular station after that for pulling that nonsense. Both of our car tanks were pretty empty, so we gassed up in the late afternoon, not knowing what was going to happen to the price of gas. On our way to the station we saw Air Force One pass high overhead (it was the only plane left in the sky). We went to Tyroni's Italian Restaurant for dinner, since we gassed up in Bartonville and they have good comfort food. I felt a little guilty doing that while it seemed the world was turning upside down. In the days that followed we found that Karen's mom had been stranded in Las Vegas by the airline shutdown. I remember attending a memorial on campus and feeling a wave of blind anger at another faculty member wearing a turban, then after thinking about it more, I realized how stupid I was because it was associated with an Indian culture. Time has passed, and anger cooled (or moved on) and unfocused wars dragged on. I'm not 100% sure how I feel now about the whole thing except maybe some cynicism toward all parties. For the last few years at the West Peoria 4th of July parade there has been a group present called the "9-12" something or other. They seem to be a very patriotic group of people; I think this last parade they might have shared a float with the Tea Party. I asked a 9-12 rep what that the number meant and was told that they wanted everybody to get back to the feeling (presumably patriotism) that was felt the day after 9-11. I pointed out to Karen that on 9-12 I was feeling confusion, fear, frustration, and undirected anger more than patriotism.