In One Era and Out The Other
Herstory: September 11, 2001
by Serena Ebhardt
Herstory: September 11, 2001
by Serena Ebhardt
IN ONE ERA AND OUT THE OTHER : http://www.ebzb.org/era.shtml
My husband and I were in the doctor’s office at 8:45 a.m. on September 11, 2001, hoping. We’d been trying, for three years, to get pregnant. As a juvenile diabetic, I was told I might not live past the age of 25 and certainly wouldn’t be able to have children. This was hope against hope.
As our OBGYN came to speak to us, her cell-phone rang. She checked caller ID, apologized to us, and took the call. It was a friend asking if the doctor’s husband, a commercial airline pilot, was flying his usual route from Raleigh, North Carolina to New York.
“No. Why?”
Her friend informed her that a plane had just hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center.
We assumed an accident and went on anxiously hoping.
As our doctor broke the joyous news that finally, we were expecting, her phone rang again. She checked caller ID, apologized, and took the call. This time it was her husband.
A second plane had hit the South Tower of the World Trade Center. As a member of an FAA investigation team, her husband was called to duty. He called to say goodbye as he began his drive to New York. (The airport had been shut down.) Now we knew it was more than an accident. I was indeed pregnant. Confirmation. In the confusion, we continued to focus and hope.
A few minutes later, I was in the lab. As I was having blood drawn, the radio blared the breaking news. A third plane had hit the Pentagon. The air buzzed with speculation, confusion, and fear. Yet I sat amongst it all filled with my own private joy and hope.
While driving from the OBGYN’s office to my Diabetes doctor’s office, we heard more reports. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
The mix of feelings was overpowering. Surrealism. Enthusiasm. Confusion. Joy. Fear. Wonder. Isolation. Excitement. Anxiety. Hope. America’s despair was in a head-on collision with my hope for the future.
“I don’t know what kind of world you’ll be bringing this child into,” said the second doctor as he cautiously walked the emotional middle ground.
“Don’t worry, “ I replied in what must have seemed a Pollyanna tone. “My son is going to be one of the good guys.”
It wasn’t naiveté. I know first-hand that this world is full of disaster, disease, distress, and death. Now, when my son asks me why bad things happen, I tell him that I believe it is so that we may have an opportunity to create good from them. The juxtaposition allows us to fully appreciate the peace of the mundane. History helps confirm that, through the eras, the human-spirit prevails.
History connects us. Events, tragic or momentous, have a way of uniting us in the most authentic way. Every American remembers where they were when they heard the news of V –Day, Kennedy’s assassination, Neil Armstrong’s moon landing, September 11, 2001. These events galvanize and connect us. They prompt us to tell our own oral histories and enlighten the common journey of the human spirit.
As an observer, you will be tempted to find meaning in the words and images presented to you during this performance. As in life, the meaning that emerges for you is one of your own making— based on education, emotion and experience. Regardless of the propaganda presented here, the only meaning truly intended is that “America is what YOU make of it.”
As with all EbzB Productions, it is my hope that this performance will celebrate the triumph of the human spirit; and inspire ongoing discussions that connect and unify us. United We Stand!
- Serena Ebhardt
