Thursday, September 11, 2008

911


911 - everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when they first heard about the attack on the Twin Towers - I know I do. I was shaving and the radio was set to NPR as it always is. The first announcement was something like "we have unconfirmed reports of a plane colliding with one of the Twin Towers in New York. We shall bring you updates on this story as we get them." Nothing more urgent than that. There were no more updates before I took off to work and, unfortunately, I didn't have the radio on while I drove thirty or so minutes to work. When I got to work, every office was empty except the one where the whole staff was watching the horrific news on TV. Just as I positioned myself around some people to get a better view of the screen, the first tower started to collapse. We could not believe our eyes. Shortly after the second tower collapsed, the Mayor issued an order for all of us to immediately vacate the building and go home. The freeway was crowded. I had the feeling of something resembling controlled panic. When I got home, I started getting phone calls from friends and family asking if I was ok.