9/11

September 11, 2001

Sun coming up over the Blue Ridge..
6 AM- My car's alternator, sputtered once, twice, and gave up the ghost. Super annoyed, I didn't know yet there were much worse things in store for this day.
I got my mom to take me to work...

9:30 AM- A coworker comes over and tells me there'd been an accident, a plane had just flown into the World Trade Center. Say what? It was an interesting piece of information, but the radio wasn't saying people were dead/dying. It was more like, a plane had a slight collision w/the building + everyone was ok...
10 AM- News of plane #2 into WTC.
10:30 AM-News of the Pentagon, of United Flight #93.
I turned off the radio-I don't want to hear any more. The whole country was going nuts. And work is just not that important anymore. Not that much work is getting done anyway..

A coworker is crying, worried about her daughter. (who later turns up ok) The rumors fly thick + furious, everyone is scared. By day's end, its confirmed that 5 employees(from Boston) were on United 175, and the company VIP's who knew them are now crying too.

I just can't imagine, what it would be like to have something like that happen to a friend/loved one. And I'm not very good at talking to VIP's anyway, let alone knowing what to say in such a horrible situation, so I keep my mouth shut.
When I get home from work, the tv is on(and the magnitude of the situation increases 100x) Seeing it on the tv, is much more impactful then hearing it on the radio.

Five years later, and the shock factor has worn off some. But I think of the people who died in the attacks, when they got up that morning, their day didn't involve just a dead car. Maybe they didn't even have a chance to tell their families they loved them..
We can't forget, lest we let our guard down. There are people out there whose prime objective in life, is to see America brought to her knees, and have no qualms about the method of extermination. 9-11 is so horrible, nothing like this has ever happened. But if there's another terroist attack, (on a greater magnitude) will 9-11 still be remembered? These are weighty questions, and perhaps we can't prevent all the stuff the terroists have in store for us. 9/11 brought out part of the greatness of America (we can pull together, in times of dire need) but why can't we do that w/out such a tragedy? Instead of handing it all off to goverment?
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