story9484.xml

story9484.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-09-07

Let me begin by stating that I believe Breaking News is the most important use of the Television medium. Ever since I was 8 years old, and the Beirut Army Barracks were bombed, I understood the impact that Breaking News could have on people. Television is our common connection with events and each other when it comes to substantial occurances in our world. Given this, I had many times in the past left my VCR recording CNN in the evenings or CNBC in the mornings to make sure that if any major events did occur, I would capture them for future viewing.

On the morning of September 11th I was working for Knight Transportation, a medium-sized trucking company in Phoenix, Arizona. As part of my duty in managing three departments, I often was at work before 6AM to begin my long workday. On September 11th I remember sitting at home and watching CNN until about 5:20 AM (8:30 AM Eastern) when I left for work. I did not put a tape in the VCR this day.

I arrived at work at about 5:50 and logged onto my computer. The first sight I look at every morning is CNN. I do this primarily because when events occur - they do so at any time. It was common practice for me to repeatedly check CNN throughout the day for breaking news stories. On the morning of September 11th, when I logged on to CNN.com, the banner simply read "BREAKING NEWS: A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center in New York. Details soon." My first thought was "wow - what a horrible accident". I then went into a slight state of shock, and called over one of the few other office workers to read the screen. She read the website and said "it must be on TV - lets go see".

We walked back to the drivers lounge (which had a big screen TV) and turned on CNN. As we did, you could see Tower 1 burning. I said what millions of others first said, which was "OH MY GOD". I watched TV until 6:00 AM, when I grabbed my cell phone and called my dad, who is a long-haul truck driver. My dad was in Dallas, Texas that morning. I woke him up when I called. I told him what had happened, and I told him "call Linda (my stepmother) and tell her to tape CNN. Call your dad (my grandfather) and tell him to tape CBS or ABC". My dad asked me if I was going home, and I said "I can't - I have to stay".

I walked back into the office, and had a co-worker walk up to me and say "did you hear?" to which I replied "yes - what an odd accident". My co-worker looked at me puzzled and said "no - the 2nd tower is hit too". When I was told this to me, it was the first of three times on September 11th when I made the statement that "there will be rumors all day because of the magnitude of this event". I then went back to the drivers lounge, watched the replay of the 2nd plane hitting the 2nd tower. It was at this moment that I gasped for air, and made the same connection everyone else did: terrorism.

I watched TV for another 5 or 10 minutes. I went back to my desk and began to let people know that were coming to work what was happening. The same look of horror and terror from each person - I was struck at how universal the reaction was. At roughly 6:30 Arizona time, I had the first of several friends call me to see if I knew what was going on. Everyone that knows me knows about my news obsession. My father called me a few minutes later and again asked "are you going home?". "I don't know Dad, I can't yet. I'll call you back soon".

At about 6:45 Arizona time, a woman a few desks down said that she had just heard on NBC radio that the Pentagon was on fire. This was the second time during the day I told people "its just a rumor - there's going to be rumors today - thats what happens when huge stories occur". About 30 seconds after I said this, my best friend called me and said "the Pentagon is on fire - who would attack the Pentagon". I walked back to the lounge again and looked at pictures of the Pentagon on fire.

I went back to my desk, and called my best friend. I told him "turn the TV up - and stay on the phone. You're watching history as it happens - tell me what they are showing". I was on the phone with him when at 7:00 Arizona time the South Tower collapsed. I remember hearing my friend Steve say "its gone - the tower is gone". This was the third (and last) time that day I would make the reference to rumors. I stood up and literally ran back to the lounge again. About 60 seconds after I got back to the lounge, the tape was rolled again showing the collapse. I remember literally slowly moving towards the floor - and was actually sitting on the ground with my right hand over my mouth when the tower had finished collapsing. I sat for about 15 minutes before going back to my desk.

When I got back to my desk, I had received an email from my brother in Michigan. It was very short and to the point. "What the f*ck is this? What's happening? Can you believe this?" I wrote him back a message saying "all is ok here. Everything will change. Talk to you soon".

After the second tower collapsed, I stood in the lounge one more time. Our Chief Financial Officer (my boss) was in the lounge. As he walked by me, he simply said "its war, Craig. We're at war". He was right, but I didn't realize it at the time. It was at this time that the rumor came across about the car bombing at the State Department, and the rumor that Capitol Hill had been hit. Why would I not believe it this time - I had been proved wrong three times this day already. Our Human Resources Manager was in the room at the time. I walked over to her and said "Marci - this is bad". She nodded her head. I remember very clearly, and with tears welling up in my eyes, looking at her and saying "when do we start sending people home?". She again looked at me, nodded, and said "lets find Tim (our CFO)". My purpose for saying this wasn't because I was afraid for our safety. It was because with everything going on, and the rumors which were now beginning, I had no idea how bad things would get. If a major attack was just beginning on our country, I didn't want people being stuck at work and then fighting traffic home if an emergency were declared.

We didn't send people home. Instead, we all sat at work and did nothing but listen to radio and watch TV that day. There was no point in calling anyone - everyone else we did business with had sent their people home. I did not leave until 5:00 eastern time that day. I remember being very angry leaving work, feeling that I had been made to stay at work when this monumental event was being broadcast. I spent that entire evening, and the next three evenings, doing nothing but watching TV. I slept 4 hours between Tuesday morning and Saturday evening.

I dont feel my story is extraordinary. I do however feel that every story from September 11th is important. Some do not have the strong emotional impact that others do, yet all of the stories show the many different reactions of this country's citizens.

The one last item I remember standing out on September 11th was shortly after the 2nd tower was down. When you looked at those escaping lower Manhattan that day, everyone was the same. What I mean by that is that most were covered with debris and dust from the towers. There were no blacks, whites, hispanics, asians. There were no rich or poor. All that existed where Americans, covered in the same dust, surviving the same event.