{"id":21624,"date":"2021-06-28T20:23:31","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T20:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/?p=21624&post_type=story"},"modified":"2022-09-09T18:52:58","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T18:52:58","slug":"why-i-will-always-remember-9-11","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/why-i-will-always-remember-9-11\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Will Always Remember 9\/11"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated Fall 2022| Summer 2021\u00a0<\/em>| By Christine Mouton \u201998 \u201901MS<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

9\/11. The day 21 years ago this September that changed my\u00a0life forever. My experience working in nearby New Jersey\u00a0after that event taught me a lifelong lesson in the capacity\u00a0to give unconditionally.<\/p>\n

That morning, as I was preparing for a meeting of crisis\u00a0responders in Titusville, Florida, someone rushed into the\u00a0room and said to turn on the TV. We watched in horror\u00a0as the World Trade Center\u2019s twin towers burned and\u00a0collapsed, and everyone around that table knew we would\u00a0be supporting the recovery effort in the days, weeks and\u00a0months ahead.<\/p>\n

At the time, I worked for State Attorney Norman\u00a0Wolfinger but was also a trained volunteer for the Florida\u00a0Crisis Response Team, a nonprofit that provides crisis\u00a0intervention to trauma victims of both mass casualities\u00a0and natural disasters.<\/p>\n

Our team director, also a board member of the National\u00a0Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA), deployed\u00a0immediately while those of us left at the table developed\u00a0a plan of action. During the next few months, many of us\u00a0would deploy to New York or New Jersey as part of the\u00a0NOVA Crisis Response Team to support those who had\u00a0lost family members, co-workers, friends \u2014 and those who\u00a0had narrowly survived.<\/p>\n

As all planes were temporarily grounded, five of us\u00a0drove to New Jersey in a minivan, where we worked in\u00a0the New Jersey Family Assistance Center, a multi-agency,\u00a0one-stop location that was set up to assist survivors of 9\/11\u00a0who were Garden State residents.<\/p>\n

We were strangers at the start of our journey, but by the\u00a0time we completed our two-week rotation and returned to\u00a0Orlando we were friends for life, having shared an experience\u00a0no one would understand if they had not been there.<\/p>\n

During those two weeks, we provided counseling\u00a0support, served meals, processed expedited death\u00a0certificates, and helped pay bills with funds provided by\u00a0government agencies and nonprofit organizations, such\u00a0as the Red Cross.<\/p>\n

We worked 14-hour days with barely any time to\u00a0reflect or sleep, before starting again the next day in the\u00a0mammoth task of trying to help others understand how\u00a0to move forward after such personal and community\u00a0devastation.<\/p>\n

Through it all, we listened to the stories shared by\u00a0victims and survivors: A family who fled unspeakable\u00a0horrors in their former country only to have two children\u00a0die from gun violence and to receive a call from their only\u00a0remaining child, who was trapped behind the wing of one\u00a0of the airplanes, right before the building collapsed with her\u00a0in it. The father who blamed himself for the loss of family\u00a0members he had recruited to join him at the company in\u00a0the tower where he worked. The wife who never had to\u00a0personally put gas in her car, who lost the husband who\u00a0took pride in taking care of her. The parents who struggled\u00a0to put their child through college, only to lose him as the\u00a0towers crumbled. The police officer who stood on a street\u00a0corner for two weeks honoring those in his law enforcement\u00a0and firefighting family who were lost in the towers. He\u00a0stood there working stoically every day, being rained on\u00a0by granite dust falling all around as the debris-removal\u00a0trucks lumbered by with gigantic steel beams crushed\u00a0like tissue paper.<\/p>\n

Every person who came to the New Jersey center came\u00a0in defeated but left with hope. As they left, we shared\u00a0parting hugs and made sure they received support that\u00a0continued in the months that followed. Some came back\u00a0just to reconnect, share another story about their loved ones\u00a0and to feel supported by complete strangers during this\u00a0overwhelming moment.<\/p>\n

By the time we started our long drive back to Orlando,\u00a0I was emotionally drained and physically exhausted.\u00a0Returning to a more normal life required some reflection\u00a0and integration of those experiences in my life.<\/p>\n

It made me realize that we all respond to traumatic events\u00a0in different ways, and that there is no right or wrong way to\u00a0grieve or memorialize the deceased.<\/p>\n

I will always remember the lesson that sometimes\u00a0just being present without saying or doing anything can\u00a0provide its own sense of comfort. Those in mourning and\u00a0experiencing grief often just need to share their personal\u00a0memories with someone willing to listen. I remember each\u00a0recollection like it was just yesterday.<\/p>\n

I will always remember my team members, but every 9\/11,\u00a0I recall how we supported the victims and each other. Some\u00a0team members were stronger than they thought possible;\u00a0others struggled for a long time after we returned.<\/p>\n

This response had such an impact on my life that\u00a0I have spent a significant part of my career involved in both\u00a0planning for and responding to mass casualty events.<\/p>\n

Today, every time I respond, I remember the lessons\u00a0I learned from 9\/11 \u2014 and again feel immense privilege to\u00a0share time and space supporting victims and survivors.<\/p>\n

[divider][\/divider]<\/p>\n

Christine Mouton \u201998 \u201901MS<\/strong> is the director of victim services<\/a> at UCF. In addition to 9\/11, she has responded to the\u00a0Las Vegas shooting and coordinated the initial advocacy response after the Pulse nightclub shooting.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":21872,"template":"","categories":[1000],"tags":[1551,1550],"class_list":["post-21624","story","type-story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-why-i","tag-christine-mouton","tag-victim-services","issues-1541","issues-summer-2021"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy I Will Always Remember 9\/11, Reflecting 20+ Years Later<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Victim Services Director Christine Mouton \u201998 \u201901MS reflects on what it was like to support 9\/11 victims and survivors 20+ years ago.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/pegasus\/why-i-will-always-remember-9-11\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" 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