story3763.xml

story3763.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was at work, doing the usual thing, when I decided I needed to refill my cup of coffee. I headed back to another area of the office where some other employees usually are. These two men had the day off, however, and so I was alone. As I headed for the coffee pot, I noticed the T.V. was on, so I paused to glance at it. At first I didn't notice anything immediately wrong, but a little later I realized what had caught my attention. The T.V.'s in the plant usually only had one channel; I didn't even know they were capable of others. Later I was told the station the plant usually used was switched over to CNN so that the employees could watch.
As I stood there, observing the effects on the first building, that's when the second plane rammed the second building. I had just tuned in and still thought that the first plane was a horrible accident, when I witnessed the second plane smash the other building. I'm glad I was alone, because I spoke aloud, "What the #@$!" It took me a minute to figure it all out. I couldn't wrap my mind around it. How could any human being think of such a thing?
The mood in the plant was one of shock, and soon one of fear. The plant I worked at was once considered on the top ten list of aggression targets. New York wasn't far from where we were. Like those who worked in the Sears Tower, the Seattle Space Needle, or other such places, we were fearful. Unlike many places considered high risk in the U.S., we were not evacuated. I spent the rest of that work day going back and forth between the only nearby window, and hovering over the T.V. It was one of the longest days of my life.