story4443.xml

story4443.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I am usually up by 5:00 a.m. every morning and the first thing I do after taking a shower is turn on the KTLA Morning News. On 9/11/01 I had just turned on the television and within maybe 10 minutes Emmett Miller, the anchorman, began reporting the breaking news - an airplane has just crashed into the World Trade Center. What a tragic event was my first thought. Within minutes of the breaking news, they had live pictures. I remember looking at the television and thinking "Oh my God, I hope no one was hurt." Of course, it took me a few seconds to realize that I was looking at New York and they were three hours ahead! I looked at my clock and it was almost 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. in New York. My heart sank - I started asking myself "What day is it today? Oh my God, is it a weekday?" I sat on my bed and just watched - absolutely horrified. Then the unimaginable: as the anchorman is talking about the smoke coming from one of the Towers he notices the second airplane and says to his co-anchor, "Do you see that airplane? Isn't it flying kind of low? Boy, that plane is too low. . ." I will never forget the look on his face as the camera cut away from the live feed and went back to the anchor desk. For just a moment, I thought he was going to faint. I fell to my knees and began crying. I kept telling myself that it must be some sort of mistake. These things do not happen in America. How in the world could TWO airplanes make such a horrible mistake? I watched the second plane hit on live television. It was something I wished I had not ever seen, I was in a state of shock. I kept waiting for someone to say it was a joke, or a hoax - but that report never came. I ran to the phone and called my boss who is from New York. I was concerned because I knew his sister worked in Manhattan. I was greeted with a very unhappy grunt and I said to him, "Ron, it's me - tell me your sister doesn't work in the WTC." He quickly asked me if I was nuts and why am I calling him so early in the morning. I yelled to him to turn on his television. Reluctantly he did - and I could hear the sobs coming from the other end. Thankfully, his sister didn't work there - her office was on the other side of Manhattan.

I think about 9/11 all the time. Every time I wask out the door I make sure that I remembered to kiss everyone goodbye. I work in a high rise and think all the time "What if that happened to me?" God Bless America.