For many, the events of 9/11 will burn forever as a global tragedy, and of course, for the families of the victims, as a personal tragedy as well.
But for Scott Honig, a Jew from New York, the event was a turning point in life.
The incident gave him a wake-up call and made it clear that life was short: a few days after the towers collapsed he proposed marriage to his girlfriend Stephanie.
This is not how he planned the move, but he felt he had to.
"Until then, I did not feel I was ready enough to propose marriage, it felt too early for me," Scott told Israel Today about his mood on September 10, 2001, the day before the terrible attack on America.
Although Scott knew she was "the one" and that he would soon do something to institutionalize the relationship, he did not imagine that in less than a week they would be engaged.
So amid all the reports of the tragedy, what was the moment when the decision came to his heart?
It turns out that a heartbreaking play by a man who lost his partner in one of the Twin Towers on the day he was supposed to be engaged to him was enough to decide (about that later).
The attack made you feel something new and sudden?
"It's a bit of both. Stephanie and I were already a couple for over a year at the time, but I think we both knew already then that this was it, that it would lead to marriage. So in my mind I already had plans that maybe in December, maybe in the spring I would propose marriage. Marriage. But the circumstances (the attack) that made me feel that time is pushing a little harder. "
He says that at the time, Stephanie was just after graduating from Binghamton University in upstate New York, where they first met, and then moved to Manhattan on the Upper West Side with roommates, some of whom had graduated or found work, but Stephanie She was just before starting her master's degree at Queens College.
"I just finished my final semester of my master's degree at Binghamton. So we'll strengthen the relationship from a distance. I started teaching at the university, and finishing my academic duties towards getting my degree in December," Scott says.
Scott at the time, in parallel with his academic studies, worked as a high school teacher of creative writing in English.
"It was my second week as a teacher, and something just ran into the teachers 'office and said a plane crashed in one of the Twin Towers, and like everyone else at the time, we weren't too excited, we just thought it was a terrible accident. And someone at school turned on the teachers' room so people could follow closely "Then I watched a live broadcast when the other plane hit."
Where was the TV?
"She was in one of the teachers 'offices, the students could not watch. Usually when there is a big news event the sky turns on the TV in the teachers' room so they can follow the lessons. I remember when the other plane hit everyone suddenly realized it was no longer an accident. So because we were not in the New York City area, studies continued more or less as usual, but for those who previously lived in the city area, it was very difficult for me to continue working as usual. "Then when the other plane hit, the room went into complete silence. And everyone exchanged glances, because we realized it could not have been an accident."
Only the teaching staff knew?
"The teaching staff knew, but shortly after it was clear it was terrorism, one of the school principals announced in the school's public address system that 'planes hit the Twin Towers, we do not know the details, but everyone should continue as usual and we will update you when there are more details.' I just taught a Twelfth grade lesson and gave them a task to write an essay in which they had to use some random words I give them, the words were a spatula, a beach ball. And one of the students wrote an essay about a plane crashing into a tower because the passengers were playing beach ball and it went into the cockpit and distracted the pilots and then the plane crashed and then they had to collect all the remains with a spatula from the street. And I was so shocked that the student could make fun of what had happened, even before we knew what had happened to the buildings. But they were students and they did not internalize that it was not just an accident, and that was their way of dealing with it. They felt far enough away from the event and it did not hurt them personally. So I finished teaching around noon,And the first thing I wanted to do was call Stephanie. Even though she did not work or study in the Twin Towers area and lived in northwestern Manhattan, I did not know what her plans were that day. Maybe she just decided to take a fun day and walk around the Twin Towers area or visit friends there. I had no idea. But of course, there was no way to get it and get anyone, because the cellular communication network. My dad was just on a trip to North Carolina, and he was supposed to be home that day, so I'm trying to get them both. And I can't get any of them. "And he was supposed to be home that day, so I'm trying to get both of them. And I can't get any of them. "And he was supposed to be home that day, so I'm trying to get both of them. And I can't get any of them. "
Was there any possibility he was on one of the planes?
"I did not know exactly his flights, so the thought ran through my mind that there was such a possibility. Anyway he was supposed to fly later that day, and of course, eventually all the planes grounded and he just rented a car and drove home. But I did not know it at that moment, .
How long did it take you to contact her?
"It took a few hours. About 4 in the afternoon I finally managed to catch them all. And I knew that everyone who could be there was healthy and intact. Throughout the day and into the night I was glued to the TV screen. Everyone showed what happened over and over again. Friends came to my apartment, and we watched in silence and cried, it was awful. At one point in the news I saw a broadcaster standing in the scene of the disaster in Manhattan and a man holding a picture had just passed behind her. Her microphone suddenly picked up what he said to passersby: 'Have you seen this woman? This is my girlfriend, she worked in one of the towers? I was supposed to propose to her tonight. ' It broke me. That moment on TV broke me. And I knew from everything I saw in the media that the chances of him finding her alive were nil. When I heard him say that, I felt a click in me, as if my body was saying to me, 'Why are you waiting?' Anything can happen at any moment. And if I know she's the one for me, if this is the woman I want to be with for life, why am I waiting until December,Why am I waiting for spring, I'm going to do it. And I started preparing. "
So within a week you managed to formulate a plan with a ring and everything?
"Yeah, so I immediately called my parents that day or the next day and told them: I'm coming home this weekend and I'm going to bring Steph with me and I'm going to propose to her. It was pretty weird to do that because they've just for him a new home two weeks ago, but Stephanie did not see it as anything out of the ordinary because she thought that in light of all the events I must want to see my family and hug them.
"So I took her out of town and we drove to my parents' new house so I needed directions to get to their house on Long Island. Then the next day, my parents kept unpacking the suitcases, and they wanted to start painting the kitchen cabinets. Steph had some experience painting inside so it was Good reason to bring her because she knew what she was doing.So she and I started helping them paint, and I decided I needed to get her angry [to build a buildup for the marriage proposal] and I told her my grandparents called and needed my help.and that was of course a complete lie. As I left, I left her alone with my parents to paint the kitchen cabinets.
"So of course I did not go to my grandparents but went to Stony Brock, to her parents. When on the way I called them and told them I was coming, they got excited and said, what a beauty you are coming. But I made it clear to them, 'No no, only I'm coming.' They thought it was weird but they said okay, but they did not get the token that I was planning a marriage proposal either. I arrived, and I sat with them and their son, Zack, on their patio. Marriage, I did not want it to dull the festivities. And I ended with the words: 'I am here to ask your permission to ask for her hand.' When I said that, their jaws dropped, and we all just sat there in silence for 30 seconds. They were in shock. Thanks to Al Zack, my brother-in-law, broke the silence and said, 'Well, I'm in favor. Then we hugged and cried together. It was a good moment. I knew Steph's mother had an inherited ring that she wanted to pass on to Steph at the right moment,So she took out the ring and explained to me again the importance of the ring etc. So I left their house with their blessing and an engagement ring. And I knew Steph would have something from me too, so I drove back to the previous locality where my parents lived, where I grew up when I was young, and picked up my grandparents, and they helped me choose a pair of earrings with a diamond.
"I brought my grandparents home and went back to my parents in Plainview and when I walked in Steph looked at me again with a murderous look, and even more murderous, because 4 hours passed and she was the only one who helped paint the kitchen cabinets in my absence, and she rightly thought she left her to do the dirty work. I tried to explain to her my fictional story about my grandparents needing help.Then later that night, while watching TV in my parents' basement, one of my pajama pockets had a diamond ring and the other pocket had diamond earrings.Then I just decided to make the It's, 10:30 pm, and I asked her to get up from the couch and go to another part of the basement. I knelt down and reached for my pocket and she just looked at me and said, 'What are you doing? What are you doing?' And I asked her if she wanted to get married. She started crying,Then she hugged me and then I put the ring on her and cried, and then I whispered in her ear: You did not answer me. And she said: 'Yes !!!' Shouting. And after the ring I gave her the earrings and we ran downstairs, went into my parents' room and jumped on the bed between the two of them - and said, 'I'm going to be your daughter.' "
