U.S. General Services Administration
Remembering and honoring 9/11
At age 21, PBS Realty Specialist Steven Freund was in southern Spain beginning his second week of a three-month study abroad program when terrorists attacked [PDF] the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
"It was on the TV when I got back from classes, and I watched the attacks as they were broadcast on CNN," he said. "I was on my own in a foreign country in a part of the world where the traditionally-Christian world starts blending into the traditionally-Muslim world."
He remembers several of his classmates immediately made plans to return. He stayed.
"Those of us who stayed, we felt like we were on a lifeboat in the middle of the ocean, wondering where the waves would take us," Freund said. "The world felt different in a place that already felt a bit alien."
His host family’s reaction to his reaction sticks out in his memory.
"They didn't understand why I had taken over their living room and monopolized their TV," he said. "They didn't feel anything about what was happening. It was just a thing that was happening to someone else, some other country, so what was the big deal and when could they watch their normal shows?"
Weeks later he volunteered to chaperone a grade school field trip. Noting the presence of Americans in their group, the kids laughingly started to chant 'Bin Laden' as a joke.
"It was clear they meant it to be funny and didn't understand it would make us angry, and they hushed when I gave them 'the look' and put my finger up to my lips," he said. "It was a reality check about how other parts of the world viewed the situation."
Like Freund, most Region 6 employees still remember where they were and what they were doing on that deadly and emotional day 20 years ago.
"It was a reality check about how other parts of the world viewed the situation."
— PBS Realty Specialist Steven Freund
FAS Supply System Analyst Dan Howerton was watching the news from the waiting room at a hospital. His grandson was born after the first tower fell, but before the second one.
"My grandson being born was the only good thing to happen that day," he said.
Region 6 Public Affairs Officer Alison Kohler remembers getting ready for class that day at Kansas State University.
"I was alone so I didn’t get it until I got on campus," she said. "It was eerily somber and scary instead of happy and carefree. My boyfriend-now-husband was in the Army Reserve and I had no idea our entire lives would be affected by it."
In the hours, days and months following the attacks, Americans across the world began vowing to "never forget" what happened to our country and how the attacks impacted us. This weekend, as we celebrate what is now unofficially known as Patriot Days in the United States, Americans are being asked to remember the outreach and support that emerged in response to the tragedy — and keep the memory of that day alive for younger generations — by turning 9/11 into a global day of doing good.
What will you do for the 20-year remembrance of 9/11? Drop off cookies or food at a local fire or police station? Donate to the CFC or a charity that resonates with you? Maybe donate clothing you’ve outgrown or no longer wear?
Make plans now to do something special this weekend.
There are also plenty of events and activities awaiting those looking to do more: