102 Minutes that Changed the World

Yes it has been 7 years since the 9/11 attacks, but in my opinion it will always be a fresh wound. The History Channel put on a documentary recently, with the same name as above, that showed that historic morning in a very different light than what we are used to. There were no celebrities to voice over the action, no catchy music to make you feel emotion that is or is not there.......just raw footage (video, voicemails, phone calls, announcements, etc) of pedestrians, policemen, firefighters, and everyone else who woke up that morning to find themselves at the footsteps of so much evil and yet so much human triumph.

Here are just a few of interesting things I saw.......both good and bad.......the stories you never really saw:

1) At one point you can hear in the background of one video clip, the audio of a man who was SUPPOSED to be in the building that morning, but he was late for work. I am sure there are many examples like him, but you can hear him calling his relieved mother to let her know that he was safe......BECAUSE he was late getting to work due to staying up the previous evening to watch Monday Night Football.  He actually says, "Monday Night Football saved my life."

2) I know that I am being hypocritical in saying this since the footage of this event is what I am commenting on, BUT at some point the journalism has got to stop! A police officer, who could have been one of the hundreds or thousands of civil servants recalled from retirement/day off/whatever to help protect the citizens of Manhattan from further damage, is trying to keep some journalists back from ground zero. How is he repaid???  The stupid journalist spends every last breath saying, "What is your badge number, give me your badge number." Its almost comical that in a time like that, he believed the officer was going be afraid of being told on for keeping him away from the towers.  And this is before the collapse, so imagine if the cop just gave in. 

3)  The documentary was made to show the countdown (102 minutes) from the time the first plane hit to shortly after the second tower fell.  Now if you google it, you can find out the exact times each tower fell. I was sort of curious as I was watching the film so I went ahead and did just that. It made the viewing experience even that much more intense! I was able to sit there , watch the time roll on the TV screen, watch the fireman prepare to enter the building, AND hear the communication between those who were currently on the 72nd floor of tower 1 rescuing people. I saw the time dated on the film, knew the time of the collapse, and realized that I was probably watching the last video and hearing the last audio that the many of those brave souls would ever produce. Watching them, they had no idea it would collapse. They might have thought it could be a possibility, but if so you could never tell in their faces!! I felt like that person at the movies we all hate....."No dont go through that door, the killer is on the other side."  But in this instance, they were going through the door anyways and GOD BLESS THEM!!

4) I could go on forever, but I will leave you with one last quip.  I think another area people never think about is the 911 operators that were working that morning. I am sure at some point ALL of Manhattan called to report what was going down. The history channel actually lets us listen to the calls from people trapped inside the building to those operators and it is INSANE!  There were all types of interactions. Some of the operators remained calm, went by the book, and did there best to relay positions, injuries, etc to the rescue team. You could hear others who tried their best to follow protocol, but overwhelmed by sorrow, grief, were pretty helpless (which unfortunately is understandable). BUT here is the other side of the spectrum and it makes me sick!!!! There was one recording of a 911 operator who was trying to help at first, but took a completely different direction. He was talking to someone on the 100th floor of tower 1, telling them to stay put, and stay low. Good advice, yes! The person he was talking to, obviously in a state of panic, kept saying they were going to try to find a way out. When the operator heard this, he got very defensive and angry as if this poor trapped soul was challenging his authority, and the operator actually says, "No sir, don't do that, you know what, I AM HANGING UP!!"  Are you kidding me???

That is all for now.