September 12, 2001 On September 11, I was on leave from work, writing a long description of my just-completed three-week trip to New England. I had no idea what had happened until a friend called from California somewhere around 2pm. As a result, I always felt that I had missed a fair amount of the feeling of September 11 and that probably helped account for why I ended up visiting the Pentagon, the World Trade Center site, and the Shanksville Pennsylvania site (where the fourth plane had crashed).
When I came into work the day after, I went into my boss' office and found she could still see smoke rising from the Pentagon building. During lunch, I tried to walk to the Pentagon. The streets were pretty well empty of tourists and pedestrians but there were lots of police around. As I neared the Pentagon, I ran into a police line. They said there were rumors of another missing plane and sent us on our way.
Afterward, I went to a parking garage at Pentagon City which gave me a view of the damaged section of the Pentagon. It's amazing to consider that a chunk of the Interstate runs right by it. It must have been hell during the attack.
November 3, 2001 I decided to visit the Pentagon to take some pictures. I'd tried before. The day after the attacks, I'd walked over to the Pentagon from my office but the police pushed people back. Roads were blocked off. You couldn't get in unless you were press. Things were different now. The repairs were now normal so life had adjusted.
It was an interesting visit and a very different experience than New York had been for me. In part, that's because of the difference in time. I'd seen New York 12 days after the attack and here it was 53 days after that I was seeing the Pentagon. People start to get on with their lives and spend less time thinking about past events and losses as time goes on. This is healthy.
But I think too that the New York City attack will always be a different experience for us. Obvio ...More...
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