Barring any unexpected events, today will be an ordinary day for many Islanders. People will go to work, they will go grocery shopping, have lunch with friends, go to school, and travel to and from Martha’s Vineyard for work and pleasure. In short, they will take part in all of the mostly ordinary activities that round out a typical September day.
There was nothing extraordinary about September 10, 2001. It would be easy looking back to think that there should have been some uneasiness in the national psyche that day, some sign of what was to come, but there was not.
Victor Colantonio left his Cape Poge home at the tip of Chappaquiddick for the World Financial Center at 200 Liberty Street, New York City. A businessman, Mr. Colantonio was focused on a deal he was putting together. No doubt there were a lot of deals being put together 14 years ago to the day. The economy was humming along.
Tomorrow, our nation will remember the anniversary of 9/11, when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and turned them into weapons aimed at the heart of the United States. The goal was to strike at landmarks in New York City and Washington, D.C.
The terrorists at the controls of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 flew the planes into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in lower Manhattan.
American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon.
The fourth attack was thwarted. With the words “Let’s roll!” uttered by passenger Todd Beamer, a group of brave men and women aboard United Airlines Flight 93 fought back and attempted to regain control of their plane. Flight 93 crashed away from its intended target in a field in Shanksville, Pa.
Those diabolical attacks continue to reverberate through our politics and culture. For better and for worse, 9/11 transformed the United States and the world.
Mr. Colantonio, in the shadow of the towers one block away, was one of the thousands of people to witness the attack firsthand. He survived with its haunting images seared into his consciousness.
That morning he was in the World Financial Center when the building’s fire marshal instructed everyone to leave the building. He walked outside and looked up to see the World Trade Center ablaze. His reaction — disbelief — was shared by millions of Americans across the country who stared at TV screens, unable to make sense of the images they were seeing live and unfiltered.
“As a speed-reader absorbs a chapter a second, I surveyed surrounding buildings, roadways, and intersections. The cause of the instantaneous and enormous destruction was inconceivable. I relived the past few minutes hoping for a clue: an explosion, a bomb, maybe a missile; crackle of gunfire; the World Trade Center aflame and smoking; missilized debris perforating the skin of 200 Liberty and the adjoining Airwalk. Unbelievable.”
In the aftermath of the attack, Mr. Colantonio followed his doctor’s orders to go to a quiet place and write down everything he had witnessed. He returned to the peace of Chappaquiddick.
An excerpt from the 15,000-word essay he wrote and submitted to the World Trade Center Museum and Memorial appears on the facing page. Mr. Colantonio describes what he saw between the time the first plane struck and the second plane arrived.
A sentence from his story appears on the wall at the entry to the room that memorializes the 2,754 people that died that day: “While we still looked up, a man jumped from the building to the ground … At that instant, the towering glass and metal mass of billowing smoke became human.”
Mr. Colantonio said he has not visited the World Trade Center Museum and Memorial. “I haven’t had the courage,” he told The Times. “I’ll eventually get there.”
He is concerned that the passage of time not erase the memory of 9/11.
“There are a lot of people that are very concerned that it has slipped away from the American consciousness, and people are not remembering the impact of that day and how it changed the lives of people around the world,” he said.
World events set in motion that day continue to unfold. On Friday, we might all take a moment to reflect on the loss and lessons of 9/11 and what ordinary days may bring.
