story9425.xml

story9425.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-08-17

I was on a week's educational leave from my office job to study conflict resolution and mediation at a local peace institute.

As the clock-radio started up at 6 a.m. (Pacific), and the news started its 15-minute broadcast, I crawled out of bed to get ready to catch the bus at 8 a.m. As the newscast came to an end, the announcer suddenly broke into the closing music to tell of the attacks.

I don't have a television, so I kept the radio on, of course, and my eyes nearly dropped from my head when I stopped in at my neighbour's house on the way to the bus stop and saw the live feed on their television. I was watching at the moment the towers came down. I was knocked almost off my feet, winded and breathless.

Then over the next few days, seeing no airplanes in the sky was extremely eerie. To be in a conflict resolution course at the time seemed slightly ironic. I'm glad Canada was helpful to the United States citizens who were stranded at airports across the continent.

Stephen Moyse
Brentwood Bay, Vancouver Island
snmoyse@pacificcoast.net