lc_story257.xml

lc_story257.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2004-01-15

On September 11, I was working in my office as a school counselor in a Bronx high school. My seventh floor windows faced south looking toward lower Manhattan.

I recall that after 9:00 a.m. I saw a plume of black smoke in the distance, but ignored it. In time it grew larger and spread across the horizon heading east with the winds. By that time, we had been infornmed by the administration of the attack and prepared the building for early dismissal. I learned of the collapse of the towers from a colleague whose husband was watching it in television. I imagined the buildings filled with many thousands of people, innocent souls, tumbling towards earth. The horror was overwhelming and unbelievable.

My sense of a secure future, in New York especially,has been altered. There is no longer the freedom to think that we are completely safe...safety was never an issue in my life. Now I anticipate that one day in this city we will be challenged again and have to suffer the death of many people. I try to wish this thought away but I have the anxiety that it will happen. I just hope no one I know is a victim.