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First appeared Sept. 13, 2001
Sorrow. Fear. Outrage. Disbelief. Horror. The silence of the deserted mall in the middle of the morning was surpassed only by the silence of about 150 students, packed into the Information Booth lobby of Memorial Union. These students represented small groups of students all over campus who watched in horror as planes crashed into the economic and military bases of the United States.
“I think it’s appalling … it seems like there’s … like there’s no way the United States can be prepared for this. I’m kind of speechless. I have friends who live down there. I can’t get a hold of them,” Aaron Curtis, a first-year student watching on the wide screen television in the Union, said. “I can’t get a hold of anybody. Cell phones are down, lines are down … bridges are down, all over the city.”
As the twin towers came tumbling down, students screamed and cried in each others’ arms, unable to comprehend how the world had changed in just three hours.
Some students buried their faces in their hands as others’ jaws dropped when it was announced that there was a car bomb found at another location. This announcement was later proven incorrect.
Some students were not able to watch the terror – they were forced to listen to the radio and imagine the worst. One such student was Sarah Batteese, a sixth-year wildlife ecology major. One of her best friends is a courier who does errands in the World Trade Center.
“Her mom hasn’t been able to get a hold of her,” Batteese said. “I don’t know yet, and the fact that I am at work …” she said as she heard the second tower crumble into dust.
Looking through teary eyes at the bright red pager at her hip, she said, “It doesn’t help that I am a firefighter and there were firefighters in that building.”
She found out later that her friend was not near the buildings when the terrorists attacked.
Shock seemed to be the dominating feeling early in the day, Tuesday, Sept. 11, as the reverberations from three crashing airplanes rocked the entire nation.
“I’m shocked. I’m completely shocked. I can’t believe someone would do this to the U.S.,” Mellissa Folckemer, a sophomore, said. “I can’t even imagine how many lives have been lost.”
Some students see the terrorist attacks as a declaration of war on the United States.
“And that isn’t the end,” she said as buildings turned to rubble on live television. “That worries me the most.”
That the U.S. could be the subject of such a terrible attack was unbelievable to many.
“It think that it’s a little surprising that the planes went undetected in U.S. boundaries,” Christine Lowell, a sophomore, said. “I don’t even know exactly what to think. You just don’t think that the U.S. is susceptible to this kind of attack.”
Thinking about anything other than the events unfolding before their eyes was impossible for many students as half-empty classes were given over to watching the news and discussing the attack.
“They need to move this someplace bigger, like DPC,” Jon LaBonte, a senior, said as the crowd in the Union swelled between classes. “I was talking to one of my brothers and one of his professors told them to leave and find a television. He said this was something to tell your kids about.”
But today, students are left wondering what kind of world we will be living in when our children ask, “Where were you?”
Bangor Daily News