story7173.xml

story7173.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-13

I was sitting at my desk at work. I live in Indiana and we are an hour later on the clock than NYC. A co-worker from up front came back to my area and announced "the world trade center has just been bombed". I didn't think much about it at that time. Then various people started to buzz and I paid more and more attention. I finally called my mother who is retired and asked her, "is something going on out there in the world? Turn on your TV and call me back". I turned on my own radio just in time to hear Peter Jennings being testy with someone around him. Then he announced that one of the towers had fallen. He had to stop talking for a moment, obviously awed by the unbeliveable sight. I said to those around me, "Peter Jennings just announced that building fell." Then I heard the announcement that all planes were to land wherever they were. This must be really serious, I said to a co-worker. Shortly afterwards, someone came by and told us they had live coverage on a big screen TV one floor above. A co-worker and I went up to look. When I saw the pictures of the towers crashing it really hit me. "There were people in there, someone's mother, someone's husband or wife, somebody's child, a lot of them, were in that building.
Throughout the day as I saw again the tumbling giants, I felt sorrier somehow for the hypothetical images that must have come true a thousand times that day: the retired mom, who sat down to watch the news with a cup of coffee and saw the tower fall-a place where her very proud son or daughter
worked. The image of a pre-schooler waiting impatiently for his mom to pick him up at five o'clock..and mom was in the tower.