Last night I heard from a friend from my IFES days, which brought back lots of memories. In keeping with the last post, I want to share my experience of 9/11/2001.



I left the United States on September 1, 2001 to move to Poland for the next couple of years to work, for lack of a better way to explain it, as a pastor to Polish university students. I flew into London and spent a couple of days with friends, then went out to Kent for a week, where I spent time getting to know other Brits and Americans who were also preparing to go to other countries to pastor and mentor students.


A group of us traveled back to London together and arrived at Victoria station. We decided we would check email, then see the sights, then go on to whatever it was we needed to do before we left England for other ports of call. However, none of us could log in at the internet cafe. It was fairly busy there, so we weren't sure if maybe there was a lot of internet traffic in general. Then one of us said, "You'll never belive what just happened!" and pointed to his computer screen where a live picture of one of the World Towers was displayed, in smoke. Another friend checked his cell phone and discovered a text message from his sister in the Philippines, who said that the World Trade Towers had been hit by airplanes in New York City. It was a surreal moment, with the pictures we were watching on the computer looking as if it were an action movie starring Will Smith.


Eventually, we noticed there were a lot of people on the streets. It turned out that Tony Blair was afraid the same thing might happen in England, and had declared a state of emergency. Businesses shut down in the middle of the day, and people were wandering the streets trying to get home. I went into Victoria station to call the friends I was staying with, and saw an incredible amount of people cramming on the Tube and getting on any train possible. I met up with my friend, and we came across a number of Americans who said that all trans-Atlantic flights were canceled, with no idea of when they would resume again.


As it was, my flight to Poland was for the next day and was still scheduled to leave. I arrived at the airport the next morning and had to check every piece of luggage, including any carryon items. Surprisingly, check-in went fairly quickly and we flew out pretty much on time. I changed planes in Germany, and the security guard who checked my passport looked at mine and said, "I'm so sorry."


For me, it was a bundle of feelings- I wanted to go back to the States, not so much because I was afraid for my own safety, but it felt like the kind of "family crisis" where you want to be with the people you love. I found family in my new home of Poland and was touched by the ways the people around me showed their support in the face of such an awful tragedy, especially because they had experienced tragedy several times over. It felt strange to be experiencing such a national event overseas- almost as if I weren't really an American. It also made me sort of a local celebrity as my new coworkers asked me what I thought our president would do in response, and what the mood among my countrymen was in the face of this tragedy (I had to tell them, "I don't know," which added to my sense of estrangement).


What memories do you have of 9/11?