By J1 Reporter Eve Steele

On the sunlit morning of Sept. 11, 2001, the tragedy that would change the perspective of daily life would soon occur and break the world as people knew it. To everyone who lived it, the day began in a clear and calm way, with absolutely no knowledge that this particular environment would be destroyed incredibly soon. 

At 5:45 a.m, five hijackers would soon be boarding American Airlines Flight 11, which would shortly be crashing into the North tower of the Twin Towers at 8:46 a.m, killing all of the passengers in an instant.

At this point in time, Ms. Susie Sisson, a teacher at Marian High School, was walking up to her regular classroom, after teaching her students in Marian’s computer lab, which no longer exists. 

When she arrived at her classroom, she found all of her students crammed together, staring at the tiny TV monitor in the top corner of the room, that she says, “was never on … [it] just [sat] up there gathering dust.” 

She admittedly states, “I of course came in a little crabby, and I was like ‘Why do you all have the TV on?’ It was so unusual. And that’s when they said ‘something happened.’” 

As Sisson and her students gathered around the monitor, watching live in awe and despair, the second tower was hit at 9:03 a.m, also killing all of the individuals on board immediately.

Eventually, Sisson recalls watching both of the towers collapse, even stating “I remember our principal afterwards telling us … try to just move on as normal as you can … try not to watch TV all day is basically what she was saying.” 

After the terrible events of the day, Sisson remembers the unity that was immensely present not only that day, which included the prayer service that the school had organized after school, but also for years to come. 

After leaving the prayer service that day, she shares that while driving home, shortly after learning that President Bush was briefly stopping in Omaha, she “saw a plane cross the sky,” stating that she knew it was his plane, because “they had grounded all of the [other] planes.”

When discussing unity, Sisson recalls the world being primarily filled with compassion, although adding that she remembered that individuals of Arabic origin experienced harsh times due to racial profiling that began because of the confirmed knowledge that the Arabic group, al-Qaeda, planned and carried out the attacks. 

Sisson also remembers Congress passing “The Patriot Act,” explaining that it “gave the government the power to surveil citizens much more than they used to be able to.” Implementing that in this fear and uncertainty of anything else of this measure happening again, the whole world came together, even if it was just for a little bit, Sisson saying that “other countries [were even] saying like, ‘We’re here for you. We’ll do whatever you need.’” 

“It kind of shook people.” And that it did, as from then on, every aspect of life itself was changed, including literature and pop culture. 

Sisson specifically said that she was incredibly fascinated by how quickly, and just the topic of 9/11 in general, popped up in fiction around the world, saying that not only did it affect the United States politically, economically, and socially, but it also affected its pop culture.

Two major works that Sisson made note to mention were the musical “Come From Away,” with the premise of the story being about a small town in Canada that welcomed thousands of passengers that were forced to land on Sept. 11, after the planes were told to be grounded, and the fictional novel The Submission by Amy Waldman, which covered the fictional reality of rebuilding the area of where the twin towers were, holding an anonymous architectural contest for what to build in place of the buildings, revealing that the winner of the contest was a Muslim man who fit the description of the hijackers, although he was obviously completely innocent.

Both of these pieces of fiction are one that English major Sisson notes were specifically fascinating to her, urging all those who learn of them to give them a try.

Unfortunately, 9/11 is a monumental date that will now be remembered in the category of events like the Great Depression and both of the World Wars, and while this was an overall heartbreaking event, it led to heavier security and protection, the bringing of unity, and major adaptation that happened because of it.

Thank you so much to Ms. Susie Sisson for sharing her recollection of 9/11! If you have a story about this memorable day, please feel free to share in the comments.

If you have questions about this article, please email the J1 Reporter, Eve Steele, at 28.eve.steele@omahamarian.org