photo credit: azipaybarah
Before Keynote Motivational Speaker Career
I think 9/11 is one of those events where most people in this world will recall where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center in NYC. Much like the Apollo 11 moon landing and maybe even the Kennedy assassination, we will never forget this moment in time.
I actually do remember the moon landing as I was watching it with my family on our black and white TV but I was a bit too young to remember the Kennedy assassination. The 9/11 event I definitely remember quite vividly and this was way before my keynote motivational speaker career even started.
On The Nile River In Egypt For 9/11
On the morning of 9/11, I was not even in North America. I was actually on the Nile River in Egypt on a small cruise ship during my vacation tour there. This was a trip of a lifetime to finally see the Great Pyramids and the other magnificent ancient Egyptian ruins. I was on a three night cruise from Cairo to Luxor and I along with my fellow passengers heard about the news from an American couple in the dining room of the ship.
They had just seen the news on a TV on the street market area. They even claimed that the Egyptians were trying to hide the news from the tourists for some reason. Maybe they didn’t want us to panic or anything.
Major tourist sites in Cairo already had heavy security even before 9/11 since some years ago, there was an attack on a tourist group which devastated Egypt’s tourism market. It was just recovering when 9/11 happened.
Lots Of Machine Guns As A Response To 9/11
I took a plane from Luxor to Abu Simbel which is an awesome and huge ancient Egyptian temple in the south part of the country. One of the immediate changes the Egyptians did right away as a response to 9/11, was surround all jets on the tarmac with machine gun toting military dressed in white before letting any passengers on and off the planes.
I had never seen so many machine guns in my life before and at first, this was a bit unnerving but after I thought about it, I actually wished that there were more of those military guys around. If an incident did happen at any of the main tourist sites in Egypt, I don’t think they really had enough guys to protect us.
The increased security at the planes and elsewhere were probably a good idea since I would imagine that tourist protection was now a priority. In fact, the American couple from our cruise ship even suggested that if asked by the locals where we are from (since they always tend to ask this question), we should not respond with ‘North America’.
Continued With Trip During 9/11 Crisis
It’s debatable whether or not it was a safe thing for westerners to be travelling in an Arab country around the time of 9/11. I was going to even say that I was from Singapore if asked since I could probably get away with that with my Asian appearance.
However, I for one was not about to cut my travel short so I continued with another three days in the country with an internal flight (again with armed security around the planes) to Sharm-el-Sheik to scuba dive in the Red Sea, before meeting up in Barcelona, Spain with my pharmaceutical sales work colleagues for a week long cruise of the Mediterranean Sea. We had done well for sales so our reward was to have our sales meeting on a cruise ship which was not cancelled either.
It was a company meeting and vacation combination for us. Even though I was not yet a keynote motivational speaker at that time, I was slotted to make presentations to our entire sales force during one of the days at sea since I was a pharmaceutical marketing product manager and sales trainer.
I don’t recall seeing much change in security in Spain or any of the Mediterranean ports of call during that week though. But the UK was another story altogether.
I did notice that on our return flight back to Canada, the stopover in Heathrow in London already had major security screening implemented. Instead of a leisurely stroll to a connecting terminal, we were herded like cattle through a few different checkpoints and each passenger was physically frisked at the final one.
In the connecting terminal where all the retail stores and duty free were, we saw more machine gun toting military personnel, this time from the British armed forces of course. Since I was in transit most of the time for over a week immediately following 9/11, I didn’t really get full details of what happened except for occasional reports on BBC when I did see an available TV somewhere.
I learned most of the details regarding 9/11 after I made it back home in Canada (Montreal at that time). Like my work colleagues, we were glad to be back home as our own Canadian airports started ramping up their security.
Where Were You In 9/11?
So that’s my account of the time period around 9/11, long before I ever became a keynote motivational speaker. What about you? Where were you during 9/11? Feel free to share in the comments section below.
I was in NYC, Queens, where I then held a job as an admin assistant in a dental corporation.
The towers were seen from our second floor windows. I was on the first floor signing for a package with Tony, the FedEx guy. He was always funny, joking arount. He told me the news about a plane hitting the tower… i did not believe him…then went upstairs and watched in horror the events to follow…drove to the hospital to donate blood…they did not need it as there were no survivors…it was dark, even though the sky was blue and there was silence for the next half a year all i remember is silence on the trains, buses…everywhere… I tried get over it, but I only feel it more as the years go by, it took 10 years for me to realize I am still trying to heal… I moved to Canada in 2009. NYC will always be in my heart…forever.
Thanks for sharing.
During the 9/11 attack, I was working at West Hollow Middle School, Melville, NY as a Library Media Information Specialist. I was visiting our custodian to discuss a set-up of a presentation when we heard on the radio in his office that a plane crashed into one of the towers. We stopped talking and commented…”Did you hear that? Is it some kind of a joke? Not funny!” We couldn’t believe what we heard…was it true? Then minutes later the radio said that a second plane hit the second tower! This is not joke!
I then ran upstairs to my library, where a PTA meeting was in progress, however, the parents had stopped the meeting because they found out something had happened in NYC and it was not good! I then went into the AV room to hook up a TV to see if the situation was on the news. It was so frightening seeing what was happening! I have never seen such an attach. What horror. We don’t get attached. It is so close. This sort of thing does not happen in the United States. I tried to call my husband…phone not working….AT&T was affected! That is very scary.
The PTA meeting stopped. Parents wanted to take their children home. Our district tried to assure our parents that their children would be safe with us. There were so many unanswered questions. Our staff at school were never put in such a situation. What should we do. The children became curious and wanted to see what was happening of TV. We were told to prevent the students from watching at this time.
When I got home and glad to see my husband was alright, we still had so many questions. Fighter planes began flying overhead. This does not usually happen. They were headed for NYC. Were we still under attack? Were we going to be affected here on Long Island? I wanted my children home from school, NOW.
For the next several days, fighter planes were flying over head towards NYC. Too close. We began smelling something very bad in the air. Burning type of smell from the direction of NYC. This was not good.
As we all began to understand what had happened, instead of our United States crumbling in fear, as the terrorists hoped, we sprang into action! First Responders and others risked their lives for weeks to help and support our fellow Americans. American flags began to flying all over…So high…so proud. I have never seen so many.
Unfortunately, as the years have past, less and less flags are seen flying. Our world in the United States has changed because of that terrorist attack. Higher security when boarding planes and at some events of high populated areas during certain seasons. But we have learned…We are Americans and we are STRONG.
Thanks for sharing.
Wow, so close proximity. Thanks for sharing.
I was working in my lab at a hospital in Toronto Ontario Canada. I had gone up to the break room for a coffee and saw the second plane hit the tower on the TV. I remember thinking wow every hospital from NY to Toronto will be on disaster standby. All day was a feeling of dread and the expectation of helping horriblely injured people- the call never came. To this day I feel the horror of what happened to all those souls.
Thank you for reading :). I don’t regret being there at that moment, on the contrary. My values and priorities have changed since then. I appreciate everyone and everything more. 🙂
United States Suffers Massive Heart Attack And Survives
On a beautiful sunny morning in September, I made my way into work in DC by bus, as it stopped to drop off and pick up passengers at the pentagon and on into the heart of the nation’s capitol. Minutes later I arrived at work and the first person I spoke to was my boss, Ric, who informed me that the country was under attack, just after the second tower was hit and it was obvious this was no horrible accident.
A few minutes later I went to attempt some kind of structure with a group of adolescent boys. I watched on television in horror as the news unfolded that the Pentagon, where my bus was just stopped at only an hour earlier, was also hit. I could not cover my own disbelief and shock, much less contain that of teenagers already in acute psychiatric distress.
I somehow finished my group, though I do not recall how to this day, and a made my way to a vacant phone. I had to call “home” and tell my parents that I loved them and ask if I could stay over for a few days. The first person I spoke to just after the towers went down was my dad who was blissfully unaware. My father answered the phone and knew of nothing at that point. I told him the world as we knew it was gone forever and to turn on the television, any channel.
Ten years ago, as the explosive heroic efforts unfolded in Pennsylvania, and the shoulders of the pentagon were ablaze in Washington, and the towers gave in and fell to their knees in New York, our beloved collective nation suffered a massive heart attack. Five years ago, Ric, the first person to inform me of 9-11, died of a massive heart attack. Earlier this year, my dad, the first person I informed of 9-11, died of a massive heart attack. Ten years ago, the collective United States of America survived this heart attack, but we are still healing, and we are stronger for it. This time.
We need to take care of our heart.
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Well said.
I was wondering what it was like here in T.O. since I was not only overseas at the time, but I flew back to Montreal where I was living for a couple of years.
It was a typical morning at our house. My youngest daughter had gone to work at K-Mart and my husband and I had just finished breakfast when my daughter called telling us to turn on the TV that she had heard a plane had crashed into the world trade center tower. She, like many of us figured it was a plane that had gone off course and unfortunately hit the tower. Figured is was just a single engine plane with just the pilot aboard. But when I turned on the TV I saw all the smoke and in just a few seconds I saw a Jet banking around the towers and head straight for the second tower. It was like a slow motion film. When it hit I knew this was no coincedence and that it was diliberate. I just couldn’t imagine who or why. Then the newscaster let all of America know a plane had just hit the Pentagon. I really didn’t know what to think or what to do next. All I could think of was why this was happening. Then when the plane went down in Pa. I started calling friends and family. My oldest daughter was living in Utah and they didn’t even know any of this was going on. My best friend from childhood had a brother who worked in DC with Senators and Congressman; so I immediately called her. They were frantically trying to find him. The problem was the phone systems were so jammed they couldn’t get through. Fortunately he was alright along with his wife and stepchildren. Times like these you really don’t realized how helpless you will feel when you don’t know any answers and so you don’t know what to do. You want to help, but help doing what. All you can do is sit there watching and listening. We need to take care of ourselves and protect our citizens and our nation. Watching all the rememberances was like it was yesterday. All the emotions were still there. I hope we never have to live through this kind of devistation again.
I was on my way to work it was a nice sunny morning in Seattle…..when I arrived at my office building and I made my way to my office I passed by the break room and I saw several of my co-workers standing in front of the television. I decided to go in to see what was going on it was very tense in the room the one person I asked she told me that a plane crashed into one of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center just as she was finishing her sentense the second plane crashed into the other building……I watched for this scene and listening to the reporter and just remembered that one of the gals I had just trained came from New York and I went into the office and called her out to let her know what happened and she had to call her parents because they owned a business not far from the Twin Towers……very horrible chain of events on the September day the whole world mourned for the people that lost their lives. They live on in our hearts and will never ever be forgotten. God Bless them all. My heart goes out to all the survivors that lost loved ones on that horrid horrid day.