lc_story138.xml

lc_story138.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2003-12-19

I heard the news as I was driving to the Post Office to send some packages on my way to work.

They interupted a news story on the radio to report that a plane had hit the WTC. I immediately called my wife on the cell phone and held it up to the radio for her to hear.

The initial report was that it was believed to be a small commuter plane.

When I got to the Post Office, the workers there had not heard the news. I commented that it might possibly be a terrorist attack. I mentioned that they must worry about that a little for things coming through the mail.

I thought of that conversation months later when anthrax was sent through the mail and postal workers in our area (D.C.) died. As of this writing, that case has not been solved.

By the time I got out to my truck, the second plane had hit, and it was clear that it was an intentional attack of some kind. The motivation remained unclear.

I went to work after hearing the news on the radio, and did not see a t.v. until after the towers had collapsed.

I remember hearing that the first tower collapsed. I simply could not believe it. I figured a large chunk of the curtain wall of the building must have fallen, but I could not fathom the building collapsing.

I remember thinking, during the first WTC explosion years before, what a ridiculous idea it was to think you could bring down the WTC! You can't collapse a building of that size.

The entire nation grieved in way that I don't think it ever had before. For days afterwards... we all would find ourselved quietly crying for the magnitude of the human loss. In our grief, we came together as a country.