September 11, 2001 changed America forever and affected the whole world. Everyone remembers the television images of smoke over New York, of planes flying through the sky until they hit a symbol of the country, the Twin Towers, where thousands of people went to work every day. Everyone remembers the fire and despair of those who jumped out of the windows to escape a sudden hell. Four US planes had been hijacked by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists. Two hit the World Trade Center in New York, killing nearly 3,000 people - one from the Pentagon, with 129 casualties, and the last, probably heading to Washington and crashing into a field in Pennsylvania, the victims were 44 passengers on board.
We remember this date and remind her that hatred never wins.
Even Rawlins Hill constantly remembers it. He remembers what he felt then and remembers it the same now.
She lived in Manhattan. Hailing from Lancaster, Hill spent 20 years in New York. That morning, after a plane hit the World Trade Center, her plans to go to Connecticut to visit a friend suddenly changed. She called her friend and canceled the visit. He called his parents in Lancaster to tell them he was fine and that he might not be able to call them for a few days, anticipating telephone line problems.
She was right. The telephone lines were out of order and with them the feeling of normalcy disappeared.
"New York City is a city of energy and noise and all of a sudden, it all stopped," she said.
For five days, Hill stayed at her home. On the sixth day, she went out.
"I remember there was at least 8 cm of cement powder in my car," she said, pointing out that her apartment was 16km north of the World Trade Center.
In May 2002, she returned to Lancaster. How she remembers September 11, 2011 and every September 9 that followed, may surprise you.
"We need to find within ourselves what will help us recover from these kinds of events," she said.
She knows and appreciates how some people use 9/11 as a day to give something, to volunteer, or to get involved in communities. She, in a word, does nothing.
Ajo e ndërpret punën dhe qëndron në shtëpi. Heshtja prishet nga dokumentarët e 11 shtatorit në televizorin e saj... Ose lexon histori kuptimplota personale në New York Times që paraqesin ata që ndihmuan, ata që u kujdesën më shumë dhe ata që nuk shkuan kurrë në shtëpi në familjet e tyre atë ditë. Për Rawlins Hill, 11 shtatori është një ditë për të reflektuar se çfarë do të thoshte atëherë dhe çfarë do të thotë ende tani.
Nuk është egoiste. Është vetëmohuese. Një ide që ajo thotë se kombi ishte i shpejtë për t’u përshtatur, pra, që sot me sa duket është hequr dorë. Por ajo shpreson se përmes dhimbjes së kujtimeve do të vijë fuqia e mendësisë për t'u bashkuar.
"I hope it will not take anything like that to unite us again. I think we should wake up, be nice, talk to our neighbors and people who disagree with us, and try to get into a unity line ".
