Do you remember exactly where you were when you heard the news? Do you remember what you did that day? That week?
I remember it like it was yesterday. I was working for Dell and my brother, who was living with me at the time, called me (which was unusual) so I picked up the telephone immediately. “Do you have a TV nearby?” he said when I answered. “No”, I replied, “What’s up?” “A plane just flew into the world Trade Center,” he said. “Was it an accident?” was the first thing that came to my mind, and he said he didn’t know.
For the rest of the day, while the rumors and the facts slowly came in, I tried in vain to stream a news video at work, but CNN and other news networks were so bogged down that it was impossible until late in the day.
I also recall a sales manager walking the floor during that long, terrible day, asking how everyone was doing, and when he came to our department, he asked me. I answered truthfully — I told him that it had been a difficult day. I still remember distinctly what he said. It was near the end of a sales quarter, and he urged me to stay focused on my work. On selling. At the time, I thought it was a pretty heartless thing to say. I guess I still do.
When the workday was done, I hurried home, turned on CNN, and watched the coverage until bedtime. I can still feel that feeling of “I can’t believe this is happening!”. Even now … 15 years later. The only thing that’s changed is the past tense.
At one point early in the broadcasts, we had to turn off the TV. We were saturated. One of our friends lived in Manhatten at the time, and we were frantically trying to get news about him. Eventually, we heard he was OK. He had also told us that up until a few months ago, he had worked in one of those buildings. We were relieved about him, but we knew that so many had died. We couldn’t watch those planes hit the building one more time, so we turned off the TV and did what we needed to do to go about our usual business. My heart hurt that day, and it still does.
Terrorism is the ultimate cowardly act. It can’t be prevented. It will happen when it happens. We can’t live our lives immobilized by the fear it causes, because that isn’t living. All we can do is hope that everyone does what they can to prevent it. The U.S. is no longer immune to attack — either from within or from afar. We must live as though there is a tomorrow, and no one can stop us from enjoying the time we have on this earth.