Wayne W. Huang

These images have never been shared with the public. I had only taken them for myself to remember that day. Most people remember exactly what they were doing that morning, where they were, and how they were reacting as the events unfolded. I was a college student who had lived in New York City for nearly a year and was getting ready to make the commute from Brooklyn to Manhattan. I never made that commute. I remember sitting in my living room that morning listening to the radio with a feeling of deep disbelief and helplessness. The pictures you see below were my attempts to come to grips with reality. Unlike those who witnessed the collapse in person or on television, I was instead confronted with ashes in my face, smoke, and burnt pages of paper floating down like feathers to the ground. The experience wasn’t “like a movie,” something I have heard repeated by detached witnesses over and over. For me, it was the closest I had ever come to mass destruction and death and I was forever moved by that sight.

It is difficult to forget the day of September 11, 2001 when much of what is going on today is in some way a consequence of the occurrences of that day. From the emotionally impacted individual to the drastic reactionary measures in foreign and domestic policy, the character of this country has changed for better and for worse. When historians in the future attempt to trace the roots of this change, this day will surely be marked a turning point.