The Backside of Forty: Because I Can't Imagine

Timeline Marker for First Plane on 9/11

I can't imagine sitting at my new desk by the window staring out at the view, daydreaming about my first date with the guy I've had a crush on for months and thinking how excited I am for life when I see what looks like an airplane headed directly towards me.

Timeline Marker for Second Plane on 9/11

I can't imagine what the horrendous sound was, but it shook this building. There are people up from their desks all over the floor as I head towards the window. Why is there fire and smoke coming from our sister building? Can anyone tell me what just happened?

Timeline Marker for Third Plane on 9/11

I can't imagine that this is an actual terror attack on American soil. Who would be so ruthless to perpetrate an act so heinous? Where are my coworkers and friends? I have to find them keep them safe.

Flight 93 Flight Path

Flight 93 Impact Point

The picture on the above left is the view you'll see when you enter the Flight 93 Memorial in Stoystown, Pennsylvania. The walk is marked with each plane's time of impact and location in chronological order. The walls are massive and the opening wide enough to let those who visit through. These walls are merely an image for the resolve of the heroes on board Flight 93, they stood tall and strong regardless how afraid they were. Like the walls they didn't waiver in their choice to be heroes on that day. The picture on the right is the impact point of Flight 93, the place where the hijackers lost their fight once and for all. The place where the people on board that plane met their Maker, as He welcomed them home with open arms. "You have been brave my children, now find peace."

Sample Debris Field

I can't imagine walking onto a scene where something so massive as a jet airplane is decimated into bits and pieces as it slammed into the ground at 536 mph, the pieces so small they could easily be missed. How did the first responders even cope with the fact that there where human remains mixed with the plane's debris? I can't imagine looking at something this devastating, where do you even begin?

My son asked why I was crying throughout our visit. For me the intensity of the loss that occurred here is overwhelming. I can't imagine what the people on Flight 93 were thinking. We do know some of what they were saying through black box recordings and last phone calls to their loved ones. As they heroically fought the attackers, did any of them find peace before death? Did the nausea and sinking pit in their stomachs finally go away? Were they granted forgiveness and clarity about their lives before they took their last breath? I simply can't imagine.

The heroes on Flight 93 saved hundreds of lives that day as they thwarted the terrorists. They have my unwavering respect and adulation. I can only repay them by living a kind and respectful life. By teaching my son about the loss that occurred that day, so he never forgets. And in turn he will teach his children so the memory, their memory lives on.