The most frightening day

I worked in Jersey City and when I got off the Path train everyone was looking towards NY. Like most people we thought it was a terrible accident and that a Cessna accidentally crashed. I got up my office and then the second plane hit and of course we then knew that this was no accident.

co-worker and I finally got to Manhattan. People were crying - no one was pushing. And then we heard a loud noise and saw the first tower fall. Cell phones were barely working and I remember a storekeeper offering us a working phone. We lined up for a pay phone - it was slow going as it was hard to get a connection. And unlike the normal impatience of New Yorkers we all waited patiently.

We were finally allowed to go downtown and cross the Manhattan Bridge to get back to Brooklyn. We got to Brooklyn and there were people there offering water, phones and places to rest. I took a bottle of water and said “you’re wonderful” and the person who gave me the water said “no you are”

I finally made it home, broke down and all I could say was “it’s gone”.

That night there was an inter faith service at our local Methodist church where we prayed and people told their stories. There was also a plan made to go to Muslim areas of Brooklyn to offer protection.

The next night there was a candlelight vigil where we walked to our local firehouse - they were one of the first on the scene and lost 12 out of 30 men. One was Dave Fontana - it was his birthday and he was off that day but he rushed in to help.

While there is terrible evil in the world I also saw how good people could be and I was so proud to be a New Yorker. I also finally understood what so many other countries have been through. It was a day I will never forget and hope to never have to go through again