lc_story76.xml

lc_story76.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-12-16

I heard about the first plane hitting the WTC tower as I pulled into the parking lot at work. I remember thinking it must have been some small, private plane and a horrible pilot error....so will they sue Cessna or Raytheoncompanies right here in my hometown.

I turned the radio on as soon as I got to my desk and when I heard the news of the second plane, went to the internet news sites and started to watch the story unfold. We really didn't accomplish much at work that day, everytime something new came across the news, we gathered around the computer to watch.

My daughter's Girl Scout Troop was meeting at our house that evening. We held the meeting, with the girls all seated around my kitchen table and watching the news on the small TV in the kitchen. The girls, 13 and 14 years old, of course had the hard questions of why would someone do something like this? how can someone be so evil? Trying to help them make some sense of a senseless act and to try to reassure them that wetheir parentsour country's leaderswould do everything we could to keep them safe...when we really didn't know if we could....is my strongest memory.

The immediate impact was not so unexpected. My sense of security was shaken. I shared in the surge of patriotism that followed, we flew our flag daily, not just on holidays, we gave to the Red Cross.

Living in and working in the Wichita, Kansas, area, where the major employer is Boeingas well as the other aircaft manufacturers and the many subcontractorsour local econmy has suffered and that has touched our lives in very direct ways.

While my husband and I have not been unemployedor feel particularly at risk of unemployment, we have friends and neighbors who have been unemployed. One of our volunteer projects is holiday help for families, distributing food and gifts. We have seen more families asking for help in the last two years as the long term effects of the downturn in airline travel nationwide has trickled down to impact our local economy.