Viewpoints and Voices

The days that divide a lifetime

Where were you when the world changed? Twenty-five years after Sept. 11, I’m remembering the phone call, the silence in the skies, and the U2 concert that reminded me what it means to carry one another forward.

Wes Platt

Wes Platt

— 5 min read
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The days that divide a lifetime
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Some dates mark time. Others divide it.

On Sept. 11, 2001, I was 11 days away from turning 35. Today, exactly 25 years later, I’m 11 days away from turning 60.

That feels almost too precise, as if someone drew a line through my life with a ruler.

Back then, I was the assistant bureau chief for the St. Petersburg Times in Hernando County, Florida. I worked evenings, so I was still at home when I got the call telling me to turn on CNN.

A plane had hit one of the World Trade Center towers.

At first, I reached for an explanation that could fit inside the world as I understood it. Maybe it was a Cessna. Maybe a Learjet. A terrible accident, certainly, but an accident that could be explained, investigated, and contained.

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