lc_story243.xml

lc_story243.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-12

I was in Brisbane in a hotel room as I was working in the city for the week. That morning I woke up and went to the door and got the newspaper. It did not have the normal weather forecast attached and I just thought that had been forgotten. I did not look at the headlines. I then switched on the TV and saw the second plane going into the building. I sat completely shocked as I listened to the news and could not turn the coverage off. I started to cry when I realised the enormity of it all. Although I had several client appointments that day no-one really wanted to talk about work issues and both appointments were short. Unfortunately that nmeant I had a lot of time to watch the coverage.

That all the people that I came into contact with during the day wanted to talk and spend more time with one than usual. The person who served me a soft drink wanted to know how my day was going [not a usual request] and at dinner at a restaurant that night my friend and I spent a lot of the evening talking to a young waitress who really needed to make contact with people and to share her feelings about the day. By the end of the meal we felt we had made a friend. I later organised a work dinner at the same restaurant just to see how she was doing.

As an Australian, who works for a US company, I am aware of a lot of security changes both here and when I travel outside Australia. I think thisevent heightened my awareness of the need to live each day fully and to appreciate the life one has and the people that are a part of that life.