story4703.xml

story4703.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was working at home on my computer on this morning diligently putting the pieces of a training curriculum together for my work. My husband was attending an NCIS meeting in Atantic Beach, NC. My home was quiet and I was working away. The kids were at school. I have three. I didn't have the TV or radio on at the time. At about 9:00 AM, as was customary when I worked at home, my secretary called me. I was very cheery, but she was not. There was great alarm in her voice. She asked if I had my TV on and I told her no. She told me to turn the TV on because a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York. I reached for the remote and turned on the awful pictures that kept being shown over and over. I sat down in disbelief and told my secretary I had to try and call my niece. She was in school in New York and I didn't know how far she was from the site, but I knew her school was in Manhattan and her boyfriend worked at Wall Street. I tried repeatedly to call her cell phone and her dorm phone. Next I heard from my husband, whose meeting ended before it started. The events of the day meant that his job would intensify greatly so we traded I love yous and he headed back to his office. I worried about my children at school as the events of the day progressed, not knowing if there was anywhere that was safe. I decided to let them stay at school and avoid the images that are forever etched in my mind. Life could remain normal for them at least until they returned home from school. When the towers fell, like so many Americans and so many people worldwide, I felt the loss of so many people just like me. People who were just beginning their workday. I felt the loss of their families. I had just lost my father to heart failure in July. Today, I still cry for their loss, but I am so proud of our country and of our world for the response to this horrific act. No one in retrospect can ever say that terrorism gained ground on this day. If anything, by their act they have made the world a stronger, more unified place. They have brought out the love, courage, and humanity in us all. I am proud of our President and our leaders for uniting together and supporting us all. In a time when the country and the world needed leadership, they showed us why they are our chosen leaders. I am proud of the world community. In a time when we sometimes focused too much on our differences, we learned that we all share in our humanity. The world reached out to America on this day as it never has before.