My 9/11 Experience

Anyone who has visited my blog knows that the main issue here is terrorism. I've been a news junkie for about ten years now, but terrorism is the singular issue that drives me to spend a my spare time searching the Internet for the latest news, and posting on my blog. Before starting Amboy I was reading Jihad Watch and posting comments at least once as day. My favorites had an entire folder dedicated to Jihad, dozens of websites and articles to keep me informed of the enemy. I've read three of Robert Spencer's books and two by Craig Winn, and will probably read more on the subject in the future.

Although I was suspicious of Jihad and any kind of terrorism before 9/11, it simply wasn't an issue that concerned me as much as domestic issues of the time. I was sympathetic to Israel, but was more concerned with typical conservative issues. But, like most Americans, my viewpoint would be changed forever on that dreadful day.

Unlike most Americans, I experienced a series of nightmares that predated 9/11 by several months. At the time I couldn't make sense of the dreams that seemed to reveal a little more information with each episode. The first dream I just remember running, everyone was running from something, I was unclear to the nature of the threat, but it was bad enough to frighten me awake. The second dream was worse, there were dozens of planes flying overhead dropping bombs, again the theme of everyone running in panic from the explosions. I was so upset by the second dream that I woke my Wife ( I was still married at the time) up to talk about it. We both agreed that the dream didn't make any sense and was probably better left ignored.

Over the course of several weeks , the second dream repeated with minor variations. The feeling I got from the dreams was fear and confusion, Who was bombing us? While thinking about the dreams in my waking hours, I realized the planes were commercial airliners and not bombers. At first this confused me, but I decided that my unconscious mind had just invented a plane from recent memory, and the bombing must have been symbolic of something traumatic.

Perhaps childhood memories of “The Bomb”.

But there were other things in the dream I just couldn't make sense of. All the dreams took place in a city with tall buildings. I grew up in the suburbs and had lived there all my life, skyscrapers were not part of my environment. In the final dream I realized the planes were flying directly into the buildings, kamikaze style. At this point my conscious mind knew that these dreams were too absurd to be taken seriously and I quickly disregarded them. The feeling of a bad premonition went away and so did the nightmares.

On the morning of 9/11 I was off work, my wife called from her office and told me to turn on the news. I sat glued to the set and watched the first tower in flames. When the second tower was hit, I knew it was no accident, we were at war. The next day was my wedding anniversary and I took my wife out to our favorite restaurant. She was in good spirits and chatted happily until she realized I wasn't really there. When she asked me what was on my mind i recounted my dreams to her and confessed I had difficulty think of anything else.

The days that followed were filled with televised images of the towers collapsing, and the unfolding of Osama's evil plot. I couldn't help but wonder if the nightmares were true premonitions or just a bizarre coincidence. I suppose I'll never know for sure, but I'm happy to report I haven't had any bad dreams since.