Editor's Note:
We are devoting many posts today to the anniversary of 9/11, with first-hand accounts, insight, and commentary dedicated to that day seven years ago that changed our world.
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Adam Levine
CNN Pentagon Unit
One of the things I remember most about 9/11 is the sense of community that started pretty much when the attacks began.
I was at home, getting ready for work on that sunny Tuesday in Brooklyn when the first plane hit the World Trade Center. Told to come in, I jumped on the subway. At that point, I knew little. I believe the feeling at the time was that a recreational pilot somehow hit the building with his plane.
But as the subway train barreled towards Manhattan, I learned more. Each time the doors open, someone would inevitably get on having heard just a few more minutes of information. And they would tell it to people near them in the car.
In Brooklyn, the F-train goes above ground for a while. Your view was of the World Trade Center, dominating the skyline. Everyone's eyes were glued to the burning building. Or was it buildings? We were trying to figure that out when the train went back underground.
A ConEd guy started telling me that he was sure it was terrorism (he was the first person to tell me that) and that he'd been called in to help out. Before that day, I don't think anyone had talked to me on the subway who wasn't trying to beg money or sell me something.
But conversations between strangers seemed to be starting everywhere. Nobody could believe what was going on and everybody needed to talk it over right away.
A woman near me was crying. Someone else was comforting her.
It dawned on me that New York felt like a small town at that moment.
| rebekah boyer |
September 11th, 2008 10:23 pm ET I was in Brooklyn too, at the time. I remember thinking how completely unreal that buildings should be rolling down in free– fall speed--like we are living in a movie of Independence Day... |
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