Friday marks 25 years since September 11, 2001.
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Friday → mark → September
For my generation, 9/11 was our “Where were you when JFK was assassinated?” moment.
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JFK → assassinate → generation
Almost everyone who lived through that day remembers where they were, who they were with, and how they first heard that something unimaginable was happening in New York.
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something → live → York
I was in London, a young Muslim researcher at a British television company, sitting on the ninth floor of a skyscraper.
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I → sit → skyscraper
I’d started the job only days earlier.
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I → start → job
It was early afternoon for us when the images came on the TV.
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images → come → TV
My new colleagues and I had just returned to our desks from lunch.
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colleagues → return → lunch
And… wait… hold on… a plane had flown into the World Trade Center?
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plane → wait → Center
We all stared at the screen, stunned and confused, trying to work out what the hell was happening.
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We → star → screen
I vividly remember this random guy walking past our desks, looking up at the TV on the wall, and saying: “What have the Palestinians done now?”
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Palestinians → remember → What
We didn’t know what had happened.
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what → know → ?
We didn’t know who was responsible.
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who → know → ?
I’ve never forgotten it.
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I → forget → it
Then the second plane hit.
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plane → hit → ?
And everything changed.
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everything → change → ?
Suddenly, all of the journalists and editors on my floor were asking me about Osama bin Laden.
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all → ask → Laden
How on earth was I supposed to have all the answers?
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I → suppose → answers
But that became my new reality.
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that → become → ?
The months that followed were a blur of booking guests, panels, interviews: on 9/11, bin Laden, the Taliban, Afghanistan, Iraq, the so-called “War on Terror.”
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that → follow → Terror
Sometimes I wonder: What would I be doing today if those planes had never hit those buildings?
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planes → wonder → buildings
It’s a weird, uncomfortable, and yes, I freely admit, navel-gazing question.
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I → ’ → ?
But I genuinely don’t know.
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I → know → ?
9/11 was a tragedy of almost incomparable proportions for the 3,000 innocent people who were killed that day and, of course, for the hundreds of thousands of innocent people killed in the subsequent decades.
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who → kill → decades
For me, I can say this: it changed my career.
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it → say → career
It changed my politics.
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It → change → politics
It changed my life as a Muslim.
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It → change → Muslim
And it changed all of our lives in ways we are still living with: Afghanistan and Iraq; Guantanamo and torture; surveillance and Islamophobia; foreign wars, repressive laws, and far-right political movements taking office across the West.
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we → change → West
But before all of that came the day itself.
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day → come → that
And those images that none of us who watched them will ever forget.
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who → watch → them
So, a quarter of a century later, I want to hear from you.
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I → want → you
Where were you on 9/11?
Where were you when you first heard?
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you → hear → 9/11
What do you remember most vividly?
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you → remember → What
What did you think and feel in those first few hours?
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you → think → hours
And here’s the question I’m especially interested in:
Did September 11 change the course of your life, too?
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September → ’ → life
If you’re a paid subscriber, please do share your story in the comments below.
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you → ’re → comments
I’ll be reading them.
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I → read → them
The Aporia
