story2778.xml

story2778.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-09-11

I was on the highway, driving to work when my cell phone rang. It was my fiance telling me to turn in the radio to listen to the news. He said that a plane had hit the WTC and although it was terrible news I reacted as if I felt some sort of shock. I said "oh really..." As the radio boadcasted the terrible news I began feeling the intense sorrow along with the rest of the nation. Walking into work, everyone stood like zombies, white-faced, hands covering their mouths in disbelief. My office partner has a dual-ban radio which brought in all of the news stations so we were luckily updated constantly of the tragedy. The next few days there was an emptyness through the office and even through the streets of my town. I drove around with an eerieness that everyone...EVERONE around me were all thinking the same things as me, that we were all in sync with one another, that grief was written on all of our faces. I glued myself to the television, wondring how in the world they would recover at Ground Zero, watching the mayor of New York City give his speech and knowing that I had no idea what true sorrow really was. Seeing the firefighters, armed forces, and police officers work tirelessly as the rain came pouring down. Indeed, I have never felt such sorrow. Learning day by day that there were less and less survivors, that there were families that in the matter of hours had lost fathers, sons, wives, daughters, sisters, brothers...and the list goes on. I am fortunate to never have felt anything so devestating. Today on my way to work I prayed during the moment of silence, remembering that morning in disbelief that a year has already passed for we are still feeling the aftershock to this day of something so big. I realize that life is a wonderful thing, family means so much, and I have many many things to be greatful for.